A Certain Scientific Resonator
by Seiker Hikaru
Summary: Academy City is filled to the brim with Espers, some aiming for goals higher than most... this is the tale of one such Esper, seeking to reach level 5, the Esper known as the "Resonator"... but this isn't just about him, this is also the tale of A Certain Scientific Lightray... Pairings up for debate if any at all. Won't even bother giving a warning. Rating is subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 1: The Resonator**

 _ **Academy City, the technological and scientific center of the world, located in Japan and home to millions of students known as Espers, who possess special powers brought about by creating a Personal Reality. The strongest Espers are known as the Seven Level 5s… but there's one Level 4 who is seeking to become the 8**_ _ **th**_ _ **, and this is his tale, as well as the story of A Certain Scientific Lightray…**_

 _ **Riverbank**_

" _It's weird… I always feel calmer here at the river… it's away from the clamor of sounds in the city and it's just me and my thoughts accompanied by the gentle lapping of the water…"_

The one currently laying down on the hill leading to the river cutting through the side of Academy City was a young man, at least 16-17, with feathery, black hair bearing a faint green sheen to it with blue and red ribbons tied into the right side near his ear, the strands long enough to frame his face in some places and shade his eyes, which at the moment were closed. He had a pale, slightly tanned complexion and just above average looks. He was wearing an altered school uniform, leaving the black blazer open with the sleeves rolled up, a dark shirt on in place of the flannel shirt, and white running shoes on his feet. And covering his ears were a pair of black cat eared headphones that covered his ears in full, blue lining running along them and small speakers in the "ears" that were on the top.

" _But it's only temporary… once I get back into that mess it's back to shutting the sound out on my own. But, at least I can relax a bit more down here than other places."_ The teenager thought, sitting up and opening his eyes, revealing the gleaming amber they were, a playful light to them and an analytic sharpness present as well. _"Now, it's getting kind close to curfew… well, not like I've ever been one to follow it full and true."_

The teenager picked his book bag up from beside him and trotted up to the street, looking around at the empty road.

"Oi! Yuuya! There you are!" A voice called out, the teenager turning towards the source, another young man his age trotting towards him, wearing the same uniform but in the normal fashion, but minus the blazer due to the current wether, with pale blonde hair, and brown eyes set behind thin glasses, his features averagely toned. "Man, thought I'd find you here."

Yuuya nodded and then pulled out his phone, pushing up the screen and revealing it's keyboard, typing into it and then showing it to the other teen, the screen reading…

"Well duh. I always come here."

"Ah, not in a talking mood I take it, eh Yuuya?" The other teen chuckled, Yuuya shaking his head. "Ah come on dude, you should've grown out of this habit by now. You got control over it years ago."

"Yeah, I know, but old habits die hard." Yuuya typed that up in seconds and showed it to his friend. Yuuya wasn't a person who spoke much, and when he did have to communicate, he always just flashed his phone at people when he wanted to say something… and then again it was usually taken as a bad sign when he chose to speak.

"Yeah yeah. So, should we head back to the dorms now or what?" His friend asked as they started walking, and Yuuya hummed, then typing into his phone again.

"I was thinking of going to train before heading back. What about you Mochida?" Was Yuuya's reply, his friend sighing.

"Not much… but really, you're a Level 4 Esper Yuuya, do you really need to train so much?" Mochida asked, putting his arms behind his head, Yuuya nodding, his next typed reply coming just as fast as the previous ones.

"You know I intend to become the eighth Level 5 Esper in Academy City. I can do it and I will do it." Yuuya pulled his phone back, and Mochida hummed.

"Not that I think it's a bad idea, but, still… the Level 5 Espers are _monsters._ I mean, look at Tokiwadai, they have _two,_ one of them being the Railgun. I bet that girl is _crazy_ powerful if her nickname is "Ace of Tokiwadai." Imagine it…" Mochido mused, Yuuya sighing and rolling his eyes.

"What do you think Espers do? You know well enough our powers come from forming our own reality." Yuuya replied, and Mochida shoved the phone back at Yuuya.

"Yeah yeah I know. Still… Level 5… I still find it hard to beleive you only transferred here during middle school and became a Level 4 by the time we got to high school while you were years behind everyone else." Mochida sighed, "Guess you did earn your nickname of "The Next Level 5" no thanks to that… you're a freaking prodigy."

"I wouldn't say prodigy. More like I'm just really determined and set in my goals." Yuuya replied, again, using his phone.

"Dude, one of these days Anti-Skill is gonna come across that empty lot you practice at and you'll be in trouble. That, or thugs…" Mochida stated, and Yuuya laughed in a soft, gentle way typical of him before flashing his phone again.

"Remember who you're talking too Mochida. I can handle myself just fine against thugs." Yuuya replied, and Mochida sighed, the two stopping as they came to an intersection, "I have to turn here to get to the lot. You go on ahead, and tell Makoto I'll be back later."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Sheesh, sometimes Makoto takes being our senpai too seriously doesn't he?" Mochida sighed, Yuuya chuckling again, waving his friend off as he crossed the street, then turning and trotting off down the street, continuing on until he reached a wide, empty lot.

" _Alright, this should be good enough."_ Yuuya thought, stowing his school bag into a small hiding spot, then walking to the middle of the lot, taking in a breath and slowly letting it out. _"Alright… let's see if I can start moving faster than I can…"_

In the next instant, Yuuya dashed forward a blinding speed, moving fast enough he turned into a blur,a brief snapping sound following him, and he skid to a stop some distance off, growling a bit and then sighing.

" _I still can't get to Mach 2… I need to get faster than I am now, especially if I want to make Level 5… alright! Let's keep pushing!"_ Yuuya thought, nodding to himself and then pushing off again, continuing to dash around the lot at the same blazing speed, keeping the exercise up until the sun dipped low below the horizon, skidding to a stop after some more time, panting as he leaned on the wall.

" _Man, keeping it up is always tiring… but… I can feel it bit by bit, I am getting faster… but, I need to get faster in less time too…"_ Yuuya thought as he reached into his bag and pulled out a water bottle inside it, taking a long drink to cool his burning throat, and then he flinched when he picked up on something.

"Well well well, take a gander at this boys! We've got ourselves a student hanging around here."

Yuuya sighed and looked up to see a group of thugs smirking at him, numbering at least nine.

"So, what brings you here eh kid? Isn't it past curfew for you students, like, way past?" The lead thug who'd spoken before scoffed, approaching Yuuya, who just put his water bottle back into his bag and standing up, and he let out a sigh when the thugs wouldn't let him pass. "Hey, those headphones keeping you from hearin' me or something kid?"

The minute the man tugged at the headphones, Yuuya's arm shot up and knocked him aside, and the thug chuckled as he stumbled back a few feet.

"Oh, makin' a move eh kid? Well, you've gotta learn, mess with guys like us and you're bound to get hurt!" The thug shouted, going from a right hook, which Yuuya ducked and then he raised an arm, placing his fingers right near the man's ear and snapping, an audible blasting noise reverberating through the air, the man then yelling before collapsing to the ground, completely knocked out.

"BOSS!" The thugs yelped, and Yuuya sighed again.

"I _really_ didn't feel like talking for the rest of the night, but now I'm just pissed off." Yuuya murmured, his voice carrying a light but deepening tone to it, a waver to it that just made his voice sound _right,_ and he then reached into his pocket as he tapped a switch on one of the cups of his headphones, and now one could hear a heavy rock song playing from the speakers, and he clicked through a few till he found one he liked, "Good, now I've got something to use…"

"This kid has got to be an Esper… but what did he _do_ to make the boss pass out like that!?" One of the thugs gasped, and Yuuya chuckled.

"Allow me to explain." Yuuya mused, cracking his knuckles, "My street name happens to be "Resonator", and you wanna hear why? I can control sound waves and vibrations in the air to do quite a lot of things. All I did was send a few high frequency waves down into your bosses skull and right to his brain to knock him out."

"Wait… I've heard that name before! They say the Resonator can do things like create sonic booms or even move faster than sound… and that he's only a Level 4 but is capable of crazy stunts!" One of the thugs gasped.

"Right on the first part, and half true on the second. And yeah, I am Level 4, but, I can do _a lot_ more than what one would think I can." Yuuya stated, raising his hand again and snapping his fingers, a low pitched sound filling the air and then one of the thugs went flying backwards.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Another thug yelled.

"Just a simple sound blast. Really, it's not too hard to figure out. Now, why not come at me?" Yuuya chuckled, giving the "bring it on" signal, tapping his foot as he waited, and the thugs yelled as they charged, causing Yuuya to snicker, "Not the smartest thing to do when around me."

Yuuya snapped again, and each of the thugs were blown back when a shock wave bursted out, Yuuya at the center of it, and they clutched their ears as well.

"By the way, the AIM field my body creates is a muted field of high frequency sound waves that act as both a use for my powers _and_ a primer or amplifier for sound waves… like the ones coming from my headphones right now… not to mention, I can do this!" Yuuya snapped, dashing forward at the same speed as before, slamming one of the thugs in their gut with an elbow strike, which then sent them flying off and to the ground with a brief burst in the air.

Yuuya then ducked another shot and shot off, the burst left from his dash sending the thug to the ground as his ears began ringing _far_ too painfully, and the teenager skidded to a stop with a slight spin, his hands in his pockets.

"Let's see, that was one… two… three… that I took down. There's six of you left… so, wanna run now so that you have enough guys to carry your buddies or do I need to knock a few more heads in?" Yuuya asked, raising a hand again.

"Ah come on, it was just three of our guys! Like that's…" One thug started, though he was blasting by a sound blast like one of the others, though instead of flying back he simply collapsed.

"That voice was just grating to hear." Yuuya murmured, lifting on of the cups of his headphones and rubbing a finger in his ears, "My power has a lot of perks, but perfect pitch _is not_ one of them, I will say that now. Makes me really picky on what I do and do not like to hear. Oh! Now that's _four_ of you I've taken down. So, wanna take up my earlier offer?"

"Holy shit… no wonder they call this kid "The Next Level 5", he's a demon!" One of the thugs gasped, backing up.

"No shit! Let's grab the others and split!" One more thug yelped, his buddies all agreeing, and soon they had picked up their four fallen comrades and ran off, the one not carrying anyone glancing back, and when Yuuya lifted his hand again, he yelped and sprinted off faster.

"Haaagh, man this just isn't fun when there isn't another Esper in there to fight." Yuuy muttered as he switched off his music, and after he'd gathered his bag, his phone went off, "Who's calling me now… oh… it's Makoto…"

Yuuya answered the call and lifted the phone up, moving his headphones down so he could hold the phone properly.

"Yo. Yuuya Bakuha speaking." Yuuya murmured.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Another teenager's voice yelled, and Yuuya rolled his eyes.

"I was just at the empty lot practicing. I was just finishing up and heading back to the dorms now." Yuuya muttered, walking up to the intersection near the lot.

"Do you know how far past curfew it is!? GAAGH! Can't you get back here on time at least _once!?"_ The person on the other end complained.

"Makoto, barely _any_ of the studentsin the city _actually_ observes the curfew, you know that right?" Yuuya muttered.

"Geez, can't I get a bit more respect as the head of our year's dorms _and_ as a senior Judgement officer? You weren't fighting some gang guys again?" Makoto complained.

"Hey, for the record, _they_ picked a fight with _me._ Besides not like I left any lasting damage to them. I only KO'd four of them instead of all nine." Yuuya stated.

"NINE!?" Makoto yelped.

"Don't worry, none of them were Espers so it was a piece of cake. You know well enough why my nickname is "The Next Level 5." I mean really, who _hasn't_ heard that one?" Yuuya muttered, and before Makoto could continue, he interjected, "We'll keep talking once I get back to the dorms. I feel like I've done enough talking as it is."

"Grrrr… fine. I'll let this one slide _just_ because I'm already having to deal with Mochida and Ryotaro being idiots… again." Makoto muttered, "Alright then, see you when you get back. Oh, and Yuuya, _please_ don't make a sonic boom when you're in the city… last time you did me and Konori had to bust our asses just to explain to Anti Skill _why_ several sky scrapers had their windows blown out."

"Hey, at least it didn't cause anything too bad." Yuuya muttered.

"SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE HOSPITALIZED FROM HEMORRAGING! I mean, yeah, they were criminals so I don't feel that sorry for them, but _still._ I know you want to become a Level 5 Yuuya, but please have some restraint." Makoto muttered.

"Yeah yeah. Alright then, I'll see you when I get back." Yuuya stated as he then hung up, turning his music back on and going back to his thoughts as he reentered the urban areas of Academy City. _"This is pretty much my life. I go to school, hang out with my friends, and practice my Esper powers to get stronger so I can become a Level 5… ever since I transferred here for middle school as a Level 1, that's been my goal… though I do wonder, is anything interesting ever gonna happen while I'm here? Well, at least for me… if anything, a break from this old routine of mine would be nice to see… but, I'll just have to deal with the cards fate decides to deal me I suppose."_

Yuuya let out a breath as he felt himself get lost in the clamor of Academy City at night, a lulling sense of peace in the air, though any who knew well enough, this city was full of all kinds of things that could happen to someone…

 **A/N**

 **And another new fic… yeah I've been having some new ideas, and with summer break right around the corner, I'll have a ton of free time to just write so, I figured why not add a thing or two extra? And, well, this came to mind.**


	2. Chapter 2

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 2: Wild Life**

 _ **Dorms**_

Yuuya pushed the door to the ever familiar second year dorms open, and, he was not surprised to see a commotion in the main hall.

"MOCHIDA! RYOTARO! GET YOUR ASSES BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Skidding to a stop and panting was another young man who had slightly foreign looks to him, his hair platinum blonde with surprisingly matching eyes, wearing his school uniform with an added green armband with a specific symbol on it, the Judgement arm band, and when he stood up he was a fair few inches taller than Yuuya.

"Oh, hey Yuuya… can you help me reel in the idiots?" The young man asked, and Yuuya pulled out his phone.

"Sure, no problem Makoto." Yuuya's response was simply that.

"Good. Just… please don't use your powers. I don't want any windows getting blow out." Makoto stated, and Yuuya nodded, the two splitting and running off, Yuuya heading up the stairs, which led to a hallway, and snickering at the end of it was Mochida.

"Oh! Wassup Yuuya! C'mon, me and Ryotaro are giving Makoto the run of a lifetime! Hahaha!" Mochida chuckled, and then he yelped when Yuuya zipped over to him in that usual manner of his, flinching when the air popped with the sound of Yuuya dashing forward, "Uhh… Yuuya?"

"Sorry, punishment time." Yuuya snickered, smirking.

"Shit…" Mochida muttered, and then Yuuya snapped, and the other boy started yelping as he started twitching. "GAGAGAGAGAGAGA! OWOWOWOW! OKAY OKAY I'LL STOP! STOP SCRAMBLING MY INSIDES!"

"Alright then." Yuuya chuckled, snapping again, and Mochida fell to the ground panting.

"Haa… haa… haa… DAMMIT YUUYA! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THAT TO US!?" Mochida snapped, and Yuuya chuckled.

"What? It's just a submission tactic." Yuuya stated.

"Wait… you're in a talking mood. What the hell happened before you got back?" Mochida asked as Yuuya hlped him up.

"Just some more random thugs." Yuuya stated, "Now let's see… Makoto and Ryotaro should be in a particular person grasp and here in 3… 2… 1…"

"Are these two wackos yours?"

"Why yes Yumi, thanks for returning them." Yuuya chuckled, turning around on his heel, facing a girl who, for most people, like Mochida, sent guys swaying with her looks, a veil of crimson curls falling down her back, her complexion clear and sharp emerald eyes set on her thin face, the girl wearing a modified version of their highschools girls uniform that had a shortened blazer that, as Mochida put things "barely contained her chest in the best way for a guy", and there were a few belts stuck around her thin waist that hung off.

In Yumi's graps were a dazed Makoto, and another young man who looked _a lot_ like Makoto, but with longer hair and playful violet eyes, this being Ryotaro.

"Ehehehe… wassup, Yu, Mochi?" Ryotaro chuckled.

"Hey… anyone seeing stars?" Makoto muttered in his daze.

"I'd suggest you three keep the perv here on a leash. I caught him heading towards the wrong part of the girls section." Yumi stated, kicking Ryotaro.

"Ah come on Yumi! It was completely innocent! I was on the run from Aniki, I had no choice once I hit the dead end!" Ryotaro chuckled as Yumi released him and Makoto.

"Do you _want_ me to go and tell Irina about this?" Yumi muttered.

"PLEASE DON'T I BEG YOU!" Ryotaro yelped, bowing down so fast his head slammed onto the floor a bit too hard.

"Don't worry, I'll just bungle the perv's head a bit tonight and it'll be all sorted out! No issues there." Yuuya chuckled, Ryotaro chuckling nervously when Yuuya put a hand on his back.

"It'll be appreciated. Good night to you all." Yumi muttered, dropping Makoto and then walking off, looking back and shooting one last glare at Ryotaro.

"Why is she so terrifying?" Ryotaro muttered.

"Ryotaro~." Yuuya chuckled, and Ryotaro froze.

"But you're scarier…" Ryotaro muttered, a drop of sweat moving down his forehead.

"I said I was going to dish out punishment, so I've gotta… I apologize ahead of time." Yuuya chuckled.

"GWAHAHAHAAAAGH!"

 _ **Later/Yuuya's room**_

Yuuya was staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head, still listening to his music.

"Oi… Yuuya, you still awake?" Makoto muttered from the lower bunk, and Yuuya pulled out his phone, typing into it as usual.

"Of course I am. You know I never go to sleep until it's at least midnight." Was Yuuya's response.

"Right… y'know, I was curious… you have all the power of a Level 5 Esper, and yet whenever we take the tests, you never use all of it… why?" Makoto asked, Yuuya pulling his phone back up, and it was back down in a flash.

"I'm not ready to be an official Level 5. True, I have a great amount of power alone, not to mention defense… but I need to be faster than I am as well… once I can at least hit Mach 2 _and_ master more of my offensive power, that's when I'll be ready to be a Level 5."

"How do you type everything that fast!?" Makoto yelped, Yuuya moving the phone side to side as if to say "Dunno." "Well, either way, you're setting quite the standard for yourself dude. Still… fuaaagh! Good luck getting there… you're… gonna need it…"

"Yeah… thanks." Yuuya responded aloud, pulling his phone back up and putting his arms behind his head again. _"Yeah… becoming the Next Level 5… I know I can do… I just have more improving to do before I myself feel like I'm ready for it… and with the way Academy City is, who knows how fast I'll be able to progress?"_

 _ **The Next Day/After Classes**_

"So, what are we all gonna do this weekend huh?" Mochida murmured as the usual gang of four wandered along the streets, looking back at his three friends.

"Well, I'll be on duty at the 177th branch so, sorry, but I can't go with you guys since I'll be working." Makoto murmured, now in a lined jacket in place of his school blazer, something that he was usually seen in, though the jacket didn't look that thick even with the lining coming out on the hoods, sleeves, and hem.

"By "working", you mean flirting with flirting with Konori, right?" Ryotaro chuckled, jabbing Makoto with his elbow lightly.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!? Want me to freeze your hair off again!?" Makoto snapped, putting Ryotaro into a headlock.

"I'll just warm it right back up if you do! Seriously, I have fire powers and you have ice powers… I win by default when you and I compare powers." Ryotaro stated.

"Yeah, but _I'm_ a Level 4 while you're two whole levels below me! If you studied and practiced more perhaps you'd be stronger than that!" Makoto snapped, and Yuuya chuckled at the twos antics as they began arguing about their powers.

"Man, those two are always arguing about who's better… I mean, we all know Makoto is the stronger one despite what one would think with the power match up." Mochida stated, Yuuya humming and giving a nod, "And then you have me as the Level 3 telekinetic… sheesh, we practically go through almost all of the ratings… You're pretty much a Level 5, Yuuya, Makoto's Level 4, I'm Level 3, and Ryo's a Level 2… now we just need a Level 1 and 0 and the circle will be complete."

"Mhmm…" Yuuya hummed in amusement, and then he flinched when a high pitched sound pierced the air, going straight through the normal level of noise cancelling his headphones provided, all four of the boys turning towards the nearby buildings, and the alarm was coming right from a bank nearby.

"What in the…" Ryotaro muttered, and he yelped when Makoto dropped him.

"Crap… a robbery in broad day light? Man what is up with these guys?" Makoto muttered, taking out his Judgement armband and slipping it on, turning towards his three friends, "You guys know what our drill is for stuff like this right? I have no idea if anyone is in the area, so we'll just take care of this ourselves!"

"Sounds good to be Aniki!" Ryotaro snickered.

"Well, it has been a while since we worked together like that. Yuuya?" Mochida mused, Yuuya nodding.

"So, what music should I play for us this time eh?" Yuuya asked as he switched his headphones to the speaker.

"Hmm… play some Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Makoto chuckled, "Kick it off with Acceleration."

"Alright then… my theme song it is…" Yuuya mused, starting the selected song, and the four dashed over to the crime scene as the doors were blown open by a blast of fire, the four or five robbers dashing out, a couple of them with guns.

"They've got an Esper with them! Ryotaro, let's slow them down!" Makoto snapped, Ryotar nodding, and Makoto skidded to a stop, slamming his hand on the ground, and a trail of ice began forming from his hand to right under the robbers feet, and the sudden shift in friction caused them all to start tumbling around before impacting with the ground. "Sorry, but you five aren't going anywhere! Just your bad luck one of Judgement's best is in the area!"

"A Judgement kid!? Gagh, get him!" One of the robbers snapped, and the one who must have been the Esper formed a ball of fire in his hands, and Ryotaro skidded in, catching the flames and directing them right back, steam shooting up as the flames impacted with the ice on the ground, the thieves being knocked back again.

"Hehehe, sorry bad guys, but the only one who gets to peg my bro with fireballs is _me!_ And don't underestimate, because even though I'm a Level 2, I've got more than enough skill to make up for it!" Ryotaro snickered, and when the robbers with guns fired at him, they gasped when the shots stopped in midair and turned right back to them.

"Tut tut boys! Today just isn't your day to have run into the four of us together! You may be up against the Ice Prince of Judgement and his lesser known brother, but you've also gotta deal with me, Shirai High's most talented telekinetic." Mochida mused, adjusting his glasses as he walked in front of the other two, picking the bullets right out of the air and bouncing them in his hand, "I'll be keeping these as souvenirs. Anything else you fire is gonna be directed right back atcha."

The robbers started backing up, and when they tried to run, Ryotaro tossed a fire ball in front of them to stop them dead, and when they skidded to a stop and tried to run, they were hit by a wall of ice that Makoto slammed their way, and then, they were picked up by Mochidas power and tossed over into the nearby park, right where Yuuya was waiting.

"Mochida was right… you guys _really_ aren't having a good day today." Yuuya mused as the thieves started getting up, and he smirked at them, "First the 177th branches ace in the whole, his pyrokinetic brother, a powerful Level 3 telekinetic, and now me… Resonator… yeah you guys are not having a fun time."

"SHUT UP BRAT!" One of the robbers yelled, firing his gun, and before the bullet even came close, it turned into _dust_ as it approached, a high pitched whining noise in the air that soon faded.

"Sorry, but bullets won't be helpful against me. I can _also_ control vibrations in the air… all I did was use the sound waves from your gun and manipulate them to vibrate at a fast enough speed in front of me to disintegrate the bullet. Now, I'd say it's time to sleep." Yuuya chuckled, walking to the first bandit and snapping next to his ears, the man's eyes rolling back as he collapses, though not dead, and when one charged, Yuuya sighed, using a boosted kick to boot the man back quite a few feet, right into an ice wall Makoto created in an instant, leaving a sizable break in the ice as it melted.

"I'd suggest the rest of you come quietly. If you know about his reputation as Resonator, then you know he's practically a Level 5." Makoto cautioned, walking up while spinning a pair of cuffs on his finger.

"Not to mention I can cause some pretty _nasty_ internal bleeding with a whisper." Yuuya chuckled, twirling a strand of hair, "So, take your pick."

Moments later, the robbers were all tied up and getting carted off in trucks, the two Yuuya had injured being taken away in a medical vehicle.

"So, how bad did I bang them around?" Yuuya asked, rifling around his music player, Makoto coming back from talking with the Anti-Skill officers, and Ryotaro and Mochida had gone to a nearby shop since they were being treated for their heroics earlier, which Yuuya and Makoto had turned the offer down.

"Well, the guy you knocked out has a stage 3 concussion, and the one you booted is suffering from internal bleeding… they'll be fine after a while." Makoto stated.

"AH, that's good then. Don't want a repeat of when I first created a sonic boom in public. Hey, has Konori gotten over that one?" Yuuya asked.

"Yeah, she forgave you for that stunt ages ago. Now whether Sharai has is up in the air…" Makoto muttered.

"She doesn't like me too much does she?" Yuuya murmured, Makoto shaking his head.

"Romanov!"

And then right before the two high schoolers, a younger girl appeared in front of them right out of thin air, her frame utterly _tiny,_ with her brown hair tied up into two stray twintails, wearing the uniform of Tokiwadai middle school, and a Judgement armband was on the right sleeve.

"Oh, wassup Sharai?" Makoto chuckled.

"Long time no see, Kuroko." Yuuya snickered.

"Save it Resonator." Kuroko growled, japing a finger in Yuuya's face, then looking at Makoto. "Why didn't you call me once the robbery started!? I could have jumped here to help you in no time flat!"

"Obviously we took care of it. I had Yuuya, Mochida, and Ryotaro help me." Makoto stated nonchalantly.

"H-HUH!? But, as Judgement officers…" Kuroko started, and Makoto cut her off.

"Yeah yeah, I know Sharai. It's our duty to deliver justice and keep the civilians safe. But, unlike you _I_ am not averse to receiving outside help from individuals like Yuuya here. You know well enough we in Judgement can't do everything by ourselves." Makoto stated.

"Yeah, but that means the civilians would be put in danger, and that's not a good thing." Kuroko muttered.

"Yes but if said civilian can defend themselves, like Yuuya, as the best example I can pick, _or_ little miss Railgun, then who are we to deny them the right to help us do our job if they're on the scene? I see no problem with it." Makoto stated.

" _Finally_ someone who is speaking sense!"

Another girl came around the coner, taller than Kuroko and in the same uniform, with short chin length chestnut brown hair with a few clips in it, and a tomboy air about her despite being easily described as cute.

"Sissy, you know how I always tell you not to!" Kuroko snapped.

"Hey there Ms. Mikoto, how's it going?" Makoto muttered.

"Hey there Romanov. I've been fine, but dealing with this one is the same as always!" Mikoto snapped, and Kuroko chuckled.

"I don't know what you're speaking of, I'm simply showing my affection at times is all." Kuroko stated.

"Have you ever stopped to think that _maybe_ your feelings are reciprocated?" Yuuya suggested.

"WHO ASKED YOU RESONATOR!?" Kuroko snapped, and Yuuya shrugged.

"Oh, no wonder those guys went down so fast. So, what's up recently with you, eh Resonator?" Mikoto asked, turning to Yuuya.

"Ah just the usual. Beating on gangs and practicing to get stronger. I have a nickname to live up to and realize, Railgun." Yuuya chuckled.

"Hmph, well, once you _finally_ decide you're ready to hit Level 5, I'll be waiting for a rematch to face you when you're at your strongest." Mikoto declared, and the two present Judgement officers stared as an electrical air came about.

"Those two have one of the most heated rivalries ever…" Makoto muttered.

"Well, at least it gives Sissy a motivator to improve more…" Kuroko murmured.

"Alright then, I'll remember that challenge. Who knows, maybe this time around I won't have to bail because you pull a railgun shot on me." Yuuya snickered.

"We'll see about that, Resonator." Mikoto snickered, a brief, small bolt of electricity coming off her forehead.

"Well, my life is wild enough as it is. Why not add another challenge to it, right?" Yuuya muttered.

"Yep. Cause there's never a dull moment in this city." Mikoto stated, both nodding.

"And yet their respect for each other is amazing…" Makoto stated.

"Grrgh… it makes me jealous just watching!" Kuroko growled.

"Alright then. See you around. C'mon Kuroko, let's get going. See ya, Resonator." Mikoto stated as she walked off, and Kuroko was soon to follow.

"So long, Railgun! Hey, next time we both fight some goons don't zap em off the bast and leave some for me alright!?" Yuuya called out, using his powers to amplify his voice a bit.

"We'll see about it!"

"Okay seriously, I don't get it, why does _she_ respect you?" Makoto asked once the two middle school girls were gone.

"We're both pretty much Level 5s… sure it's no official for me but still. Either way, just another part of our wild lives, right?" Yuuya chuckled.

"True, true. Academy City is a fun place. But, I do wonder, how long until you start getting wrapped up in some crazy adventure huh?" Makoto mused.

"Dunno… we'll have to see about that. But, I can tell you now Makoto, when it does happen, I'll be ready for it. Hehehe." Yuuya snickered, turning to look towards the sky again. _"Everyone in this city lives a wild life of some sort… it's what makes being an Esper fun… we never know what's waiting for us just around the corner. Who knows, maybe I will be part of some grand adventure in the near future? It's an amusing thought to say the least. But, let's see, shall we? I'll just ride the sound waves and see where they take me…"_

 **A/N**

 **Saying it here: If anyone wishes to see Yuuya and his buddies paired with anyone, feel free to PM me or request and I'll get to thinking.**


	3. Chapter 3

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 3: The Refugee and the Lightray**

 _ **Empty Lot**_

Yuuya skidded to a stop from his practice, leaning on his knees and panting, wiping off his brow from sweat.

" _I'm pushing myself way harder than I normally do… but if I wanna break Mach 2 then I need to… if I want to get past my limits I need to push my body to make sure I can… I'm repeating it again…"_ Yuuya thought, taking in a breath and then pushing off again, bursts following him whenever he stepped to change direction as he dashed around the lot's area, _"Faster… faster… I can go faster than this… I HAVE to get faster!"_

"GRAAAAGH!" Yuuya yelled as he skidded again, pushing down as hard as he could, a low _shoom_ sounding as he pushed off, and Yuuya gasped when it looked like he was _slowing down,_ everything passing by slowly as he moved, and he turned in the air and slammed his feet on the ground, skidding so hard he actually _fell_ and ended up tubling to a stop, rolling along the groun until he impacted with the wall of the highway, yelling as his back hit the concrete.

"Dammit… what the hell was that? Everything slowed down for a second and now I'm… wait… I was all the way near the old factory when I shoved off… why am I back near the highway?" Yuuya murmured, looking around and then forward again, right towards the location of the old factory, which now looked much smaller than earlier, and a smile lit up on Yuuya's face. "I… I did it?! I actually _did it!?"_

Yuuya chuckled and then whipped out his phone, punching in Makoto's number in a flash.

"MAKOTO! Get down here as fast as you can, and bring Mochida and Ryotaro with you! I've got something to show you guys!" Yuuya laughed aloud.

 _ **A Short Time Later**_

Yuuya turned on his heel to see Makoto and the other two trotting down the side walk to greet him, and he let out a wave, that same excited grin on his face.

"Okay, you got us down here. Now what is it you wanna show us?" Makoto asked, and Yuuya smirked.

"You _might_ want to cover your ears." Yuuya chuckled, his three friends all cocking a brow, then they all gasped in sync when Yuuya disappeared from sight in an _instant,_ being followed by a brief but low sound as he tapped his foot.

"WHERE DID HE GO!?" Ryotaro yelped, and then Mochida got a call.

"What the… it's Yuuya…" Mochida murmured, answering the call, his phone on speaker, and then Yuuya's signature laugh came through.

"HAHAHAHA! Guys, guess where I am!" Yuuya laughed.

"How can we guess!? We don't even know where you _are!"_ Makoto snapped.

"Yeah bro, what the hell was up with vanishing on us like that?!" Ryotaro yelled.

"LOOK ABOVE YOU!"

The three raised their eyebrows and looked up towards the supports of the bridge they were near, and each of them yelled in shock to see Yuuya waving to them from on high, the young Esper standing up and then vanishing again, skidding to a stop near them and giving a thumbs up.

"Take a guess at who finally managed to break Mach 2 today!" Yuuya chuckled, and then his three friends cheered before they tackled him to the ground.

"BOOYAH! Finally!" Mochida laughed, throwing up a fist.

"That part of the checklist is finally done! Sweet dude!" Makoto stated, and Ryotaro was too busy freaking out to say anything.

"Hehehe. I also spent a bit of time developing this little trick." Yuuya stated, all of them standing up, and then Yuuya spread his hands out and towards the ground, and one could practically _see_ the vibrations mixed with a small whining noise as Yuuya started drifting up, his friends gaping again, "Not only did I manage to break Mach 2, I also figured out with that new threshold of mine, I can kinda sorta fly by using the sound waves to boost myself along. Pretty sweet right? I like to call is "Wave Step." Now… one more item left on my list before I'm ready to become a Level 5…"

Yuuya pulled out his phone and opened a note pad on it, using his finger to cross out one of the items, which read "Break Mach 2"… and the final item on the list was "Increase my attack powers."

"So, what are you gonna try and do to create an attack that you consider powerful enough for a Level 5? I mean, you're sound blasts themselves are pretty potent already." Makoto stated.

"Something that can match Railgun's signature move. I need to form something that packs the same punch as her railgun shots and then some." Yuuya chuckled, closing his phone and placing it back in his pocket.

"WAIT HOLD UP! You want to try and match Railgun!? Dude, she's like, the 3rd strongest Level 5 out of the current bunch of seven!" Ryotaro yelped.

"Exacty, and it's why we're rivals. If an eighty Level 5 is gonna appear, I need a bar to set for myself right? The two strongest aren't a question for me to ask… but someone like Railgun, who I know _and_ have fought, is a different sort of setting. Hehehe… so since I've got my speed covered, I need to find a way to make an attack evens stronger than my sound blasts!" Yuuya stated with complete determination in his voice.

"Think we can help him with that?" Mochida stated, and Makoto sighed.

"We _can_ use the abandoned factory as the testing ground… I'll just need to relay it through Konori so Anti-Skill doesn't get their panties in a wad because of it… they don't want another Sonic Boom Incident to occur." Makoto stated.

"Hey! I said I wouldn't make another sonic boom within the city unless I absolutely had too!" Yuuya snapped.

"Yeah yeah, of course." Makoto murmured, "Well, it's around dinner, so we should head off back to the dorms before Yumi comes chasing after us. Should we stop by somewhere on the way back?"

"I HAVE AN IDEA!" Ryotaro.

"We're not going to an all you can east place again." Mochida murmured.

"I say we let Yuuya choose. Why not make it a celebration of this guy _finally_ getting to the final step before he's ready to be an official Level 5?" Makoto chuckled.

"Hmm… I do have an idea set in mind actually. I was gonna head there myself, but let's all go why not?" Yuuya mused.

"Alright then! Let's go!" Ryotaro cheered, throwing up a fist.

A short time later, the boys were back in the city, having a usual randomized conversation as they walked along through the crowd, and Yuuya yelped when he bumped into somebody

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! Please excuse me!"

Yuuya turned his head back to see a cloaked, rather small person bowing to him, and when they rose up the person was at least a head shorter than Yuuya, and despite the hood hiding their face he could _feel_ their gaze on him.

"Uhm… no… it's my fault… I should have watched where I was going." Yuuya murmured, and the person bowed again before trotting off, and Yuuya couldn't help but raise an eyebrow before getting pulled back along by his group.

 _ **Restaurant**_

"Maaan! We haven't been in this place in ages! Hahaha, good times, good times." Ryotaro mused as he looked around at the western style restaurant.

"This place _was_ our old meeting place way back when." Mochida stated.

"Yep. Also the place we met Yuuya here." Makoto mused, and Yuuya was back to responding with his phone.

"It was by chance really. But hey, good memories of back then eh?" Yuuya stated, humming in an amused manner.

"Yeeee… holy heck look who is here! Hehehehe… didn't think we'd see _her_ here again." Ryotaro got off track and pointed, noting the student in a Tokiwadai uniform just entering the place, right in the boys line of sight.

She _looked_ like she could have been high school age by her features, developed figure and height, barely shorter than the shortest member of the boys group, Ryotaro, who himself was a fair height. The girls hair was a pure snow white that flowed down her back and framed her gentle, pale face in gentle waves that reflected any light that touched it, splitting into three tornado twirls at the nape of her neck, the twirls ending just at her waist, and her eyes were a soft violet, matching the small, mysterious smile on her face.

"Suisho Seiten, aka "The Shining Star of Tokiwadai"… Level 3 Esper on the rise like Yuuya… and the Lightray." Mochida murmured as the girl went to the counter.

"Not to mention a total _babe!_ One totally wouldn't think she's a middle schooler with a bod like _that_ on her! Just _look_ at those smoking curves she's got, any guy would go wild! Well, any guy who isn't Yuuya anyway… Hehehe, on my hottest girls list, I place right behind Konori." Ryotaro chuckled, getting slapped on the back of the head.

"Don't be a perv dillweed. Because I will call Irina." Makoto stated.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE DON'T!" Ryotaro yelped, clapping his hands together and bowing his head, and then Suisho perked up when she heard the two brothers snarking at each other after that, her grin widening a bit when she saw Yuuya toying around with a slip of paper to make a small airplane out of it.

"Well, you're a group I certainly wasn't expecting to run into tonight… the Four Shirai Aces… who'd have thought, hmm?" Suisho mused, her tone musical and pleasing to the ear.

"Wohaaa! Dude she's talking to us!" Ryotaro awed, getting smacked again.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I may have misled you a bit, Ryotaro-san… I'm mainly here because I want to speak with Yuuya a bit." Suisho stated, taking a seat next to Yuuya, and Ryotaro's eye twitched.

"What is with that guy and attracting Tokiwadai girls? I am so friggin' jealous of him…" Ryotaro muttered.

"Well, Ryotaro-san, unlike the rest of you, Yuuya isn't either _taken,_ in a questionably close relationship with someone, or just averse to romance all together." Suisho mused, pointing at Ryotaro, Makoto, and Mochida in turn, getting various reactions from the three.

"Please don't bring that up in public…" Ryotaro muttered.

"How many times do I have to say me and Konori _are not_ in that kind of relationship!?" Makoto snapped, slamming his hands down on the table.

"Both of you are idiots and… I can't argue there. I could care less about all that crap." Mochida murmured, "So, just exactly _why_ do you want to talk with Yuuya?"

"What? A girl can't have a pleasant talk with an old friend? I _have_ known Yuuya the longest out of all of you after all. We _are_ child hood friends." Suisho stated with a hint of pride in her voice, purposefully scooting closer to Yuuya.

"I hate for that…" Ryotaro muttered, getting smackd by Mochida and Makoto again.

" _You have a girlfriend Ryotaro."_ Makoto and Mochida murmured in synch.

"WAGH!? In perfect synch to!? The world hates me…" Ryotaro murmured, Yuuya rolling his eyes and Suisho giggling.

"So, Sui, what's so big you decided to come down to the old hang out?" Yuuya murmured, pulling down his headphones, his friends yelping with the same thought.

" _HE TOOK OFF HIS HEADPHONES!? HE NEVER DOES THAT!"_ The three boys all thought while _trying_ not to verbalize their thoughts, color pretty much fading from their faces as Yuuya shook his head to free his hair a bit, the waves glinting in the air.

"Ah, well, about that actually. You see, I wanted to see if you'd be willing to visit Tokiwadai on your next day off. Miko-chan and Sharai have invited a couple of their friends to come along the other day, and you were the first person who came to mind for me. I do wonder how some of them would react to a boy, The Next Level 5 no less, appearing in the Garden of Learning when it's not during the open house." Suisho murmured, an evil glint in her eyes even though her expression remained the same, the other three boys yelping in shock.

"You're doing this just to troll everyone there aren't you?" Yuuya muttered.

"Oh now why would I do that? You know I'd _never_ do such a thing!" Suisho mused, coyly placing a hand near her mouth.

"No… I know you well enough to know you'd do _just_ that…" Yuuya muttered with a flat look on his face.

"The affection between childhood friends sickens me…" Mochida murmured, annoyed at the air starting to form around the two across from them, and Ryotaro was slamming his head on the table repeatedly.

"Well, aside from Ms. Seiten being her usual self, there's another matter I need to discuss… well, more like a warning that came in… apparently someone got past security and is in the city, so look out for anyone who might be suspicious, alright guys? It's best to be careful, and especially at night, so we _all_ need to get back to our dorms by curfew." Makoto stated, the other teenagers nodding.

The time after that was spent in a usual way for the teenagers, and once curfew started getting close, that was when Makoto called for the fun to come to a close.

"Alright, curfew's almost here. Let's get going. See you another time Ms. Seiten." Makoto stated.

"Of course… and _you'll_ be walking me back home, right?" Suisho mused, grabbing onto Yuuya's arm.

"Hagh… only to the gate of the Garden of Learning… I need to get back to… granted I _can_ do that pretty quickly now…" Yuuya murmured.

"Yay! Hmmhmm, Miko-chan is going to be so jealous once she hears about this." Suisho mused, pulling Yuuya up be hid arm.

"HEY WAIT ARE YOU DOING THIS JUST TO PISS OFF RAILGUN!? AND NEITHER OF US LIKE EACH OTHER THAT WAY IT'S JUST A RIVALRY!" Yuuya yelped as Suisho practically ran out.

"We'll see about that after a while." Suisho giggled, and Ryotaro was growling again.

"I hate him so much right now…" Ryotaro murmured, and Makoto pulled out his phone.

"I'm calling Irina." Makoto murmured.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE DON'T!"

"Ahh… and the hijinks continue…" Mochida murmured.

 _ **Some time later/Garden of Learning Entrance**_

Yuuya, now carrying Suisho, pretty much appeared out of thin air right outside the gate to the large area that the girls school was, setting her down as she chuckled.

"My my, so you've finally managed to speed up. Well, good thing too, because the head of my dorm _is_ rather picky when it comes to curfew. I have to get Sharai to help me sneak out every now and then." Suisho mused as she twirled, Yuuya pulling his headphones down.

"I imagine that. Well, goodnight to you then, I need to get going or else Makoto is gonna blow a gasket again." Yuuya murmured, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well then good luck to you on that matter." Suisho mused, stepping over to Yuuya and pecking him on the cheek, "For good luck. Good night Yu!"

Yuuya waved as Suisho left through the gate, then wiping off his cheek and sighing.

"There is something weird with that girl and no matter how well I think I know her I can never peg it." Yuuya murmured as he lifted his headphones again, starting to walk instead of dashing off, since he wanted to take some time to himself on his way back.

And it was about halfway back when Yuuya encountered a familiar figure rushing by him when he was knocked down, someone running into him and both of them tumbling to the ground.

"Ah! I am so… wait… you're that young man from earlier today!"

Yuuya leaned up on his arms and found someone, the same cloaked figure from before, though their hood had fallen from the collision. The person was a pale skinned girl who looked a year or two younger than Yuuya and obviously foreign, messy, light azure hair topping her head that framed her face in tufts with uneven tufts on the right and left side, a black and red ribbon pulling the rest back into a high ponytail that moved down her back quite a ways, the strands fading into red at halfway down, her bright eyes were also different colors, her right eye blue and her left eye amber, underneath her left eye a small pink heart on the cheekbone, and around her visible thin neck was a choker with a violet gem on it, and hanging off her ears were gold, cross shaped earrings.

"Wait a minute… wait I recognize that cloak!" Yuuya snapped.

"Took ya' that long? What, did you hit your head a bit too hard on the sidewalk or something?" The girl muttered as she stood up, her tone now sounding a bit clearer to Yuuya, her voice bearing a tomboyish rasp to it.

"I didn't hit my head, geez… why the hell were _you_ running? What, running late to get back to your dorm or something?" Yuuya grumbled as he shot up.

"I'm not a student here smartass… and if you'll excuse me I need to keep going! Sorry about bumping into you and all." The girl stated, and before she could turn, Yuuya grabbed her shoulder.

"Sorry, but I was warned that the city had an intruder in it. You wouldn't happen to be that intruder, would you?" Yuuya muttered.

"WHAT!? I got in _legally_ thank you very much! If anyone is the intruder than it's the person chasing me! How the hell do those mages even manage to get in?" The girl grumbled, and Yuuya raised an eyebrow.

"Mage? What, you mean like a magic user or something?" Yuuya asked.

"GYAGH! F-FORGET I SAID THAT!" The girl yelped.

"No, I have a friend who's been getting involved in crap like this for a while. He thinks I don't know but his nun friend spilled it when I pressed hard enough. I know about sorcerers and all that stuff. You said you're being chased, right?" Yuuya murmured.

"Uh… yeah…" The girl murmured.

"Then let's get someplace where we can talk. I'll help you out if you want." Yuuya stated.

"HUH!? N-NO! Even if you know about sorcerers and magic these people don't play around! I don't want to involve an innocent okay?" The girl yelped.

"Heh, you're talking to the person who's going to be Academy City's eight Level 5 Esper _real_ soon, I think I can handle myself. Now, can you tell me your name so we can hold an actual conversation?" Yuuya chuckled.

"It's Blesse… Blesse Noblesse." The girl murmured.

"Yuuya Bakura, nice to meet you. Now, what's the issue?" Yuuya mused, and off in the distance, the two were being watched by a figure waiting in the shadows, and they were speaking to someone as well.

"Yeah… I can hear you… the girl is in my sight… yes, I'm sure it's the one we've tagged as the Refugee… she's also in the company of a boy… alright… I'll keep watching for now…" The figure murmured, a snicker leaving their lips, "The Azure Flame is in my sights… time for you to return home, little Refugee."

 _ **To be continued…**_


	4. Chapter 4

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 4: Azure Flames**

 _ **Suisho's Dorm**_

"And back before curfew. Heh, that means the head resident can't grill me." Suisho mused as she shut the door to the dorm behind her, "Now, to find Miko-chan to see how she reacts…"

"SUISHO!"

"And speak of the devil." Suisho mused.

The snowy haired girl ducked and Mikoto wound up sailing right over her head, the other girl growlin as she landed.

"My my Miko-chan, did you really have to greet me in such a way? That's quite rude don't you think?" Suisho mused.

"Oh please, don't act like you don't know why I'm pissed off at you! What was with that stunt you pulled today!?" Mikoto snapped.

"Which stunt? Are you referring to how I dispersed your railgun shot or… perhaps before I got home?" Suisho mused.

"The dispersal I don't care about sine that's part of your annoying skillset… what I want to know is WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH YOU AND RESONATOR!" Mikoto growled.

"What? I can't tease my childhood friend? And besides, I personally thought you were going after that one boy who beat you by chance that one day. Aren't you and Yu-chan rivals?" Suisho mused.

"Please, I know the way you are Suisho… and yeah, we're rivals, but we're also friends, and even _if_ you're his childhood friend you don't go and play around like that!" Mikoto snapped.

"Oh really? Well, need I tell you that, on our way home, he escorted me to the gates? Not to mention he carried me bridal style, oh, and I repaid him with a kiss." Suisho murmured, her face that same sly smile.

"YOU WHAT!?" Mikoto snapped, a spark of electricity shooting off of her forehead.

"Don't worry, I didn't steal the bragging rights of Yu-chan's first kiss belonging to me… _yet."_ Suisho mused, and when Mikoto sent a bolt her way, Suisho flicked out a clear gem, and when the bolt hit, it was dispersed into colored light that lit up the hallway, "Now now Miko-chan, you do remember that we're forbidden from using our powers within the dorms? If she caught us we'd be in for a heap of trouble."

"Screw you, freaking fox!" Mikoto snapped.

"I'm still curious as to why you're angry with me. Is it _really_ because I'm closer to Yuu-chan than you are? Or because you just don't like me?" Suisho hummed, flicking the gem in her hands between her fingers a bit, and Mikoto just growled, "Haah, it seems I won't get a straight answer today either. Well, good night then. The short chat was fun."

"HEY! Don't just walk away!" Mikoto snapped, and she flinched when the lights flickered, and Suisho looked back with a smirk.

"Miko-chan, I do hope you remembered that even though I am currently a Level 3 my power is _very_ useful. Now, again, good night. Oh, and good luck trying to take Yu-chan from me. You'll need it." Suisho mused, vanishing down the hall, and Mikoto growled again.

"That girl gets on my nerves so much… GAAGH!" Mikoto stamped her foot and, quite accidently, zapped the lights in the hallway and caused them to short out. "Uh oh…"

A door slammed open, and in seconds, Mikoto had dashed away as the Head Resident appeared in the halls…

 _ **Meanwhile/Coffee Shop**_

"So, let me get this straight…" Yuuya murmured, spinning a spoon in his hand, "You used to work for a branch within the Church of the Cross because you have a unique power, and well, them being the crazy ass bastards they are, wanted to use it for some plan to bring down Academy City, right?"

"You're oddly well informed about the magic side for an esper…" Blesse murmured.

"Like I said, I have a friend who's more involved with it than he should be, but hey, his decision not mine. He never could say no too helping somebody, no matter who they are…" Yuuya muttered.

"Okay, I have to ask, just who the heck is this "friend" you keep on mentioning to me?" Blesse muttered.

"I believe you magic side folks refer to him as "Imagine Breaker"?" Yuuya murmured.

"Imagine Breaker?! Wait… so that would mean… you also know Index Liborium Prohibitum as well… but how!? You're an esper, even if you know Imagine Breaker and the Index, how are you so well informed about all of this?" Blesse snapped.

"I asked, it was as simple as that. That, and I bribed Index with some food. That girl will tell a friend just about anything if you go ahead and feed her. In my opinion she may need to put a lid on that mouth." Yuuya murmured.

"I don't see how you can hear anything with those headphones on your ears all the time…" Blesse muttered.

"It's because of my powers. I don't exactly need them on, but I got into the habit of wearing headphones when I was a kid. I'm what you call a Gemstone, someone who was born with their powers as opposed to other Espers, and a close friend of mine is one too… my body creates a muted field of high frequency sound waves at all times… and when I was a kid if I wasn't wearing headphones I'd get terrible headaches because I was still learning to control my powers… it's why I've been living in Academy City since I was a little kid. Though I didn't transfer to the school I'm in now until last year." Yuuya explained.

"Oh… so what, you're some kind of sound manipulator?" Blesse muttered.

"In a sense. My power is officially titled "Sound Blaster". I can control any kind of soundwave or vibration in the air, no matter what it's frequency or source. As long as it's around me, I can use it. In all technicalities I'm a Level 5 esper in terms of power and skill, but, officially, I'm not because I don't think I'm ready for it yet." Yuuya explained.

"And why is that?" Blesse murmured.

"Simple: I need to get stronger. My speed is covered, I can break Mach 2 as of today, but in terms of attacking power all I'm good for is blasting people back and causing internal damage, as well as boosting myself along to hit harder. I need to make an attack that can hit incredibly hard and be worthy of something a Level 5 can do." Yuuya stated, "Now, enough about my skills, what about yours? What kind of magic could you have that has the Church of the Cross after you?"

"It's a unique type of flame magic… it's like the magic used by another sorcerer, Stiyl Magnus, but far more potent… I was born with this power so to say, it's… complicated to explain… when the Church of the Cross found out since I was unlucky enough to be born in their territory, I was taken in immediately… at first I thought they would use my power to help people… my magic is more than just destruction… it's flames are more than just something to end life… but, when I found out that was all they wanted to use it for, I took the chance and left. I came here to Academy City because it was the place where neither faction of the magic side had influence… so I thought I'd be safe… but then I ran into one of the Church of the Crosses battle priests the other day…" Blesse murmured.

"So, the intruder is some psycho priest is he? Sounds simple enough. I've just gotta kick his ass and send him packing for you." Yuuya stated.

"WHAT!? Look, I don't care if you're some crazy powerful Esper, you have no idea what you're up against here!" Blesse snapped.

"Do I need to? I will openly admit I'm probably one of Academy City's most powerful Espers. I used to hold myself back because I was scared of my power, but I'm done with that. Rule to the wise for newcomers to Academy City, don't trifle with the Level 5s, both official and unofficial. We're far more powerful than people take us for." Yuuya mused.

"You're awfully confident about your abilities you know that? I know some Espers are strong but…" Blesse started up, and Yuuya cut her off.

"Look, I don't know what the guys at the Church of the Cross or whatever church you were with told you about Academy City, but we're not as flimsy as they seem to think we are." Yuuya grumbled, "And a point to be made: I hate being taken for weak. I've given people brain hemorrhaging for that before just to be clear."

"You have a terrifying skill you know that?" Blesse murmured.

"I've been told that. Now, let's go see those friends of mine." Yuuya chuckled, standing up.

"Huh? Which friends…?" Blesse asked.

"Touma and Index." Yuuya mused.

 _ **A short time later/Student Apartments**_

"An apartment complex?" Blesse murmured as she and Yuuya approached the complex.

"Yep. This is where they stay. Come on, let's head up." Yuuya stated, already trotting up the stairs, Blesse following after up until they came to a certain door, Yuuya knocking on it.

"Hold on a second!" A male voice replied, and a moment later, the door was answered by another high school student at least Yuuya's age, with spiked black hair and overall plan looks to him, and when he saw Yuuya he sighed, "Just my rotten luck… whenever you show up something weird happens…"

"Ah don't be like that Touma! Though…. Admittedly yes, something weird is happening." Yuuya murmured, and Touma hung his head.

"I knew it… what's the case now?" Touma murmured, and he lifted a brow when he saw Blesse peeking out from behind Yuuya, "Who's this with you?"

"I'll explain in a minute. I also need to ask Index a few questions, so can we come in please?" Yuuya asked, placing his hands together.

"Haagh… alright…" Touma murmured, moving aside and letting the two enter, raising an eyebrow when Blesse shot a wary look his way. "Hey Index, we may need to make some spots, we've got visitors."

"Oh? And who might they be?"

When Yuuya and Blesse got into the main room after Touma, they were greeted by a short, blue haired girl in a nun's habit of all outfits, and when she saw Yuuya her face lit up.

"Oh hey there Yuuya! What brings you here today? I haven't seen you since that last incident!" The girl, Index, laughed, giving a wave.

"Yeah that was pretty crazy huh? Well, it's about this friend of mine right here." Yuuya stated, putting a hand right on Blesse's head, the girl blushing the minute he did, "Y'see, she's well… a sorcerer."

Touma and Index blinked for a moment in surprise, looking at each other than back at Blesse, who shied away a bit but gave a nod.

"Y-yes… I'm a sorcerer…" Blesse murmured, _"Dammit dammit! I'm right in front of both Imagine Breaker and the Index… this was NOT planned at all… granted, I didn't have much of a plan to begin with…"_

"A sorcerer huh? If so, then what kind of magic do you use hmm?" Index murmured, going up to Blesse, and that was when Yuuya finally registered Blesse's height in full… the young sorcerer was barely taller than Index!

"Uhm…" Blesse murmured.

"Eh? When we were at the coffee shop you were fine and telling me everything… why the heck are you nervous now?" Yuuya murmured.

"S-Shut up! You got me embarrassed by putting your stupid hand on my head and now I can't think straight because of you!" Blesse snapped, her face red again.

"Ehh? Don't go blaming me for that!" Yuuya growled, and the two started yelling at each other, and Touma sighed.

"Uhm… not that I'm not amused by the little lovers spat you two have going on, but, Resonator, could you please tell me _why_ you brought this girl here?" Touma murmured.

"Simple: She needs a place to lay low, and it's not like I can bring her with me to my dorms." Yuuya stated, completely nonchalant.

"SAY WHAT!?" Both Touma and Index shouted that in shock, Touma because he saw his place as being cramped enough with Index there, and Index? Another reason entirely.

"You seriously can't expect me to just let someone lay low here do you? Not that I'm averse to helping this girl out, but come on!" Touma yelled.

"Exactly! We don't need another girl staying here!" Index shouted.

"I-It'd only be for a short time, I promise! It'll only be until we solve the problem with the person chasing me, which could take a short time!" Blesse yelped, trying to calm the situation.

"Exactly. Oh, and Touma, with this one, just leave it all to me, I'll handle it." Yuuya chuckled.

"HUH?! Look, I know Index told you about the magic side and everything, but you've never even actually _fought_ a sorcerer before!" Touma stated, and Yuuya chuckled.

"I'm called "The Next Level 5" for a reason Touma. Even if it's a sorcerer I can handle myself." Yuuya chuckled.

"Yeah but…" Touma started, Yuuya holding up a hand.

"But nothing… this time, _I'm_ gonna be the one who saves the girl. You always keep hogging the heroics. Take a break for once." Yuuya stated, Touma grumbling.

"HEY! You aren't doing this just to try and win me over aren't you?!" Blesse snapped.

"Of course not. I just said that because Touma here always gets his arse into trouble by helping out girls, even when they explicitly say they do not need his help, he helps them out anyways." Yuuya chuckled.

"He's right you know." Index muttered, narrowing her gaze at Touma.

"Why are you taking his side!?" Touma yelped.

"Well, Blesse was it? I'd like to see what your magic is, if you'd be willing to show me… I want to know why the Church of the Cross is after you. Perhaps I can be of some assistance to you." Index stated, and Blesse nodded, bringing her hand up from her cloak.

"It's shape is that of an orb… the flame's purpose is to heal!" Blesse murmured, and the three in the room awed when azure flames formed in the palm of Blesse's hand, and when they were snuffed out, Index blinked in realization.

"No way…" Index murmured…

"What? Was that something good or bad?" Touma asked.

"That's the Azure Blaze… powerful flames that aren't just meant for destruction… while they destroy, they can also heal and restore damage… they're flames of life… like the flames of a Phoenix…" Index murmured, and Blesse nodded, lowering her arm.

"It's why the group I was with is after me… they want to use the destructive power of my Azure Blaze to bring down Academy City, and I can't let them do that… so please! Like it said, it would only be for a short time. I need some place where I can lay low… I know I'm asking a lot but…" Blesse murmured.

"It's alright, I get it. You can stay here for a bit. Index, are you alright with that?" Touma asked.

"Hmph… well, if she's in trouble with the Church of the Cross then alright… and only for a couple of days. Solve this problem fast, alright?" Index murmured.

"Oh don't worry, we will. Now, I've gotta get going. I'll drop by after school to come and pick her up so we can get searching." Yuuya stated, waving as he went to the door.

"Wait, you're just gonna go?! What if you get attacked?!" Blesse yelped.

"I'll be fine out there. I have more connections in this city than I probably should… but if I do, then I'll be fine." Yuuya stated, waving once again as he left, and he didn't bother with the stairs, leaping over the rail and using his power to soften his impact.

"So, you led the girl to what you think would be a safe place eh?"

Yuuya stopped when the voice spoke, and he raised a brow when a figure in a cloak similar to the one Blesse was wearing exited the shadows, and as the Esper turned around, they spoke again.

"Anguis678. I am the viper who stalks the shadows!" The figure yelled, sending a wave of shadows right at Yuuya…

 _ **To be continued….**_


	5. Chapter 5

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **A/N: I feel like I need to clarify** _ **when**_ **this story starts. I will say this is after Touma loses his memory in Index,** _ **but,**_ **also before the Skill Out arc in Railgun, and in terms of both, before the Sisters Arc. And Yuuya is gonna be heavily involved in** _ **both**_ **ends of this, while Suisho is going to be more along in the Railgun plotline, and the opposite to Blesse. Now, which incidents** _ **Yuuya**_ **will be involved in once this arc is done is up in the air.**

 **Chapter 5:**

The snake like shadows slammed into Yuuya, and the sorcerer who'd cast the spell chuckled as they dissipated, revealing that the boy was no longer there. His first target had been dealt with, and now it was time to get Blesse and…

"Really, you're attack needs to be faster than _that_ if you wanna hit me."

"WHAT?!" The sorcerer snapped, turning to the source of Yuuya's voice, and the young man was sitting on top of the nearby light pole and casually swinging his legs back and forth in the air as he rolled up his blazers sleeves, "How did you avoid that?!"

"Simply put, Mr. Sorcerer, I can move at Mach 2. I may have figured out how to do so recently but I've always been a fast learner. To be short, I move faster than the human eye can follow." Yuuya stated, a brief blur in the air as he vanished, reappearing behind the sorcerer, "Think of it as a form of near teleportation."

Before Yuuya could pull his usual one hit knock out move, the sorcerer swung their arm around to slam Yuuya, though he simply sped up and zipped out of the way, skidding to a stop in his former position.

"Tch… that's going to be annoying…" The sorcerer growled, "But either way… Fear is the most primal of all emotions! The viper represents that fear!"

Yuuya raised a brow as the sorcerer said the chant, and another wave of snake shaped shadows rushed at him, though this time much faster, and Yuuya threw his arm out, using a sound barrier to block the spell in it's tracks, then blasting through it, and his eyes widened when he saw that the sorcerer was gone.

"You're not the only one with speed… it's the middle of the night, and sadly for you, the night is my territory!" The sorcerer yelled as they slipped out of the shadows behind Yuuya, slugging Yuuya as he turned around before he could react, sending the teenager to the ground.

"Hehehe… well, I have to admit, that would have hurt pretty badly… sadly for you, you're dealing with Academy City's number one Sound Master." Yuuya chuckled as he stood up, wiping off his chin, not a scratch on him, the sorcerer's eyes widening under his hood.

"You weren't injured?!" The sorcerer yelled, and Yuuya had a smirk on his face.

"To put it simply for you, my power let's me control sound waves and any and all kinds of vibrations… so getting hit by a punch head on is easy to take since the impact causes vibrations. All I had to do was disperse those incoming vibrations once they came into contact with my bodies AIM field, and while I was still hit, any damage it would have done was negated because of it." Yuuya stated, "But, I'm tired of rattling off how my powers work to a sorcerer, so let's get down to business why don't we?"

"Hmph, funny that I find myself agreeing with an Esper… fine then. I've already stated my magic name…" The sorcerer murmured, raising their arm, and Yuuya noted the rings on the man's fingers, each one onyx black and inlaid with a pale emerald that looked like a snakes eye somehow. "The viper's purpose is to strike fear in one's heart at the moment of death!"

Yuuya shot out of the way as the shadows around him started swirling into black vipers that lashed out at him, jumping up and hovering in the air.

"What the hell kinda magic is that?" Yuuya muttered.

"Now allow _me_ to explain my power to you. My magic is known as either the Ouroboros or the Black Viper, depending on whom you ask. In short, the shadows are mine to control, and the darkness of night is my domain, any within it will fall prey to the primal fear within them as my vipers coil and hiss around them. A viper is a stealthy creature after all. Now, if you would kindly go and retrieve the Azure Flame for me… if you do that, I may just spare you and your two friends." The sorcerer stated, and Yuuya scoffed as he dropped down onto another light pole.

"Do you honestly think I'm that much of an idiot? If I hand Blesse over to you she's gonna be in for an even rougher time than she is now. I can't just let that happen to somebody and have it on my mind that it was my fault. That's just not my style." Yuuya stated, tapping his foot and appearing right in front of the sorcerer, a fist pulled back, "Besides, I think this little fight is over now."

A sound like a gunshot sounded in the air, and Yuuya's arm flew forward with incredible speed as he slammed the sorcerer in the gut, sending the man flying back and into the wall, leaving a deep crater in the concrete, the man collapsing to the ground.

"Heh, simple enough… now, to call Anti-Skill and…" Yuuya murmured, pulling out his phone, and his eyes widened when he heard laughing.

"Hahahahaha! My my, you really are an interesting one! That was quite the punch!"

Yuuya looked to the sorcerer, but they weren't getting up, and he gasped when he turned into a pile of the black vipers that soon vanished into the shadows.

"What the hell?!" Yuuya yelped.

"To be able to defeat my decoy with such ease. A shame I was ordered to try and avoid direct combat with anyone but the Azure Flame so as to make sure I could capture her, because you seem like you'd be fun to fight… perhaps the Church of the Cross was wrong about how weak Espers are compared to us mages."

Yuuya turned around, the same sorcerer from before walking out of the shadows underneath the apartment, lowering his hood to reveal the face of a young man at least in his late twenties, his pale face like that of a viper, his eyes narrow and gold in color, and his smooth backed hair black as night and it looked like it formed something like a closed cobra's hood behind his head, and judging by his looks, he seemed to be from the Mediterranean region.

"Allow me to introduce myself to you, Esper, I am Viltra Von Schicksal of the Church of the Cross. And as I said, I came here for the girl. And seeing as how you won't simply turn her over, I may have to go against orders and harm a bystander… then again, you became involved in this the moment you decided to help the girl." Viltra stated, a wild grin spread on his face as he raised his hand, the rings on it shining with a black edged emerald light, "The vipers fangs shine like ivory and glisten with poison!"

Yuuya flinched and he tensed up when he felt something bite him, and he looked down to see one of the vipers coming straight from his own shadow with it's fangs embedded in his left forearm, blood welling up under it's fangs, and Yuuya stumbled as the snake faded, falling to the ground in a heap.

"Don't worry, the poison won't kill you. I decided to have it come from your own shadow so that you wouldn't have the time to react. My superiors want to avoid any unnecessary fatalities. That will simply leave you out cold long enough for me to collect the Azure Flame, even if the Imagine Breaker is helping guard her." Viltra stated, leaning over Yuuya and smirking, "Perhaps we will get the chance to battle for real sometime soon. Now, if you'll excuse me."

"Get… back here…" Yuuya muttered weakly, stretching out an arm before blacking out…

 _ **A short time later**_

There was a brief sound in the air, and then Yuuya's eyes shot wide open, and he sat up in a blast, panting and looking around, surprised to see he was still in the parking lot.

"Whoa! Index was right, that actually worked!"

Yuuya looked to the side and saw Touma kneeling down beside him, and Yuuya blinked.

"What… happened? Eh? Wait, Touma, where's Blesse?!" Yuuya snapped, and he growled when pain shot up his arm.

"Whoa, relax a bit Yuuya, you're arm is injured. I was able to get the poison out of your system since it was magic, but the wound is still there. I told you, you shouldn't have fought against a sorcerer. I don't care how powerful you are dude, they have tricks that even a crazy powerful Esper like you can't see coming." Touma stated, and Yuuya noticed that his left forearm was wrapped in bandages.

"Yeah, there was that, but what about Blesse? And that guy didn't take Index too, did he?" Yuuya asked, Touma helping him up.

"No, that snake looking guy was only after Blesse… he busted in and swooped her up before Index and myself even knew what hit us… then I rushed out here and found you unconscious. What the hell happened?" Touma asked.

"He used some kind of spell that made a viper bolt at me from my own shadow… no way I could have seen that coming or else I'd have been able to get out of the way by moving at Mach 2…" Yuuya muttered, "But, where _is_ Index?"

"She went back inside… but, we need to find that sorcerer as soon as we can and help Blesse… but who knows where he took her? That guy just faded into the shadows like it was nothing…" Touma muttered.

"You mean _I_ need to find that sorcerer as soon as possible… I told you Touma, I need to do this one myself. Blesse is my responsibility now. You just make sure nobody comes after Index." Yuuya stated, turning to leave.

"Yuuya! Come on, if he gets you again I doubt it'll be non-lethal!" Touma snapped.

"Heh, please, the same trick won't work on me twice. And remember who you're talking too. I'm gonna be Academy City's Next Level 5, remember that. If I can't live up to that, then what right do I have to call myself an Esper if my own power can't even help one girl?" Yuuya chuckled, "I'll drop by if I do need the help though. As for now, I'm gonna go visit a friend and see if I can get some help."

And with that, Yuuya vanished in a blur, and Touma sighed.

"That guy… he's connected to way too many things in this city… and I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not." Touma muttered before rushing back inside…

 _ **?**_

When Blesse woke up next, her vision was dark and blurred, and she had no idea where she was.

"Where am I? Yuuya… are you around?" Blesse murmured.

"Ah, I see you've finally woken up."

Blesse's eyes snapped open and she looked up, spotting Viltra smirking at her from a chair, and that was when she registered she was tied up underneath her robe, she could feel the rope over the jacket that she was wearing underneath it.

"Viltra… Viltra Von Schicksal… why? Why did they send you?!" Blesse snapped.

"Hmm? You're telling me you didn't know it was me? Please Blesse, how many other people do you know who can use the Ouroboros magic and _not_ go insane?" Vilta asked.

"Yuuya… the Esper… what did you do to him?" Blesse growled.

"Oh nothing much. I simply had one of my pets put him under so that I'd have enough time to collect you and get to my hide away. He's not dead though… heck, I'm hoping he comes chasing after me. That boy is powerful, for an Esper anyway." Viltra mused, and then was when Blesse noticed that her choker was missing, "Oh, looking for this?"

Viltra pulled the choker out, hanging it on a finger, and Blesse growled.

"Gove that back Viltra…" Blesse growled.

"Sorry, but I can't have you using the Phoenix. I know all you have to do is will it, and the Azure Blaze can manifest to free you. Without this choker though, you don't have access to your system, even with your latent talent." VIltra mused, "Really, why did you run?"

"Because I saw how wrong the Church of the Cross was! They're sick psychopaths who follow their faith like blind dogs! All they want to use my power for is destruction, and I _swore_ I would never allow it to be used to harm an innocent person ever again…" Blesse muttered, and Viltra sighed, spinning the choker.

"Then obviously you've fallen prey to ideologies you should not. Why can you not see that this damned city of science is the greatest enemy to God's plan for mankind?" Viltra asked.

"If God really does want humanity to cease it's progress, then I want no part in any religions who serve Him! A God who wishes for his subjects to remain indoctrinated and dumb when we have potential for so much more is a God I don't wish to serve! Why would He give us humans to capability to think like we do? Or those born with powers? Gemstones! Why do they exist if God doesn't wish for us to stray from Him be becoming more advanced!?" Blesse snapped, an angry snarl in her voice.

 _Crack._

The air was then filled by the sound of Viltra slapping Blesse across the face, and then he picked the girl up by the white collar of her jacket, which was peeking through the robe.

"Listen here you heretical brat! Don't you dare insult Him or the Church in such a way! Words like that are what result in you being damned for eternity!" Viltra yelled.

"Better for me then… I'd much rather be in Hell with people who think like I do than blind fools like you Viltra… why do you think I came to this city? I may be a sorcerer, but Academy City is a safer place for me than Greece ever was…" Blesse stated, and Viltra dropped her to the ground.

"Pah… we'll see how much longer you think like that. You're an adolescent… you'll be fixed easily." Viltra stated, and Blesse felt a twinge go up her back.

"What happened to you Viltra? You used to be so kind…" Blesse murmured.

"Forget about it. All I have to do is wait… I doubt that boy can find this place… if he does, then I'll say it now, I _will_ kill him." Viltra hissed before fading into the shadows.

"You better be fast Yuuya… please… hurry here…" Blesse murmured.

 _ **With Yuuya**_

Yuuya appeared right in front of a rather familiar building, to him anyway, and emblazoned on it was the symbol of Judgement.

"The 177th branch… Makoto should be in right now even though curfew's hit… he always stays late during the week." Yuuya mused as he trotted into the building and went up to the usual floor Makoto could be found on.

It was a simple space of offices and computers, and right in view from the door upon entering, Makoto was typing away on one of the laptops, his usual fur lined jacket hanging on his shoulders like a cape over his uniform, a pair of glasses on his face for reading purposes.

"Yo! Makoto!" Yuuya snapped, Makoto flinching and falling out of his desk chair, floundering on the ground a bit.

"GYAGH! Yuuya?! What are you doing here?" Makoto snapped, and he got his reply from Yuuya pulling his phone out.

"I need info on the intruder. I ran into them tonight."

"Eh? Wait, you're not hurt are you?" Makoto snapped, slipping his arms through his jackets sleeves and taking off his reading glasses, Yuuya showing him his bandaged arm before typing into his phone again.

"It's not bad, but don't worry about it. I just need to know the usual sightings of this intruder."

"That's what Konori and I have been trying put together since Kuroka and Uiharu have been a bit busy… gagh… the thing is this guy seems to just pop up in one place and then appear in another in seconds." Makoto muttered, taking a seat back in the desk chair.

" _I guess that might have to do with how that Viltra guy can move through shadows… cameras must not be able to pick him up when he moves through them… damn, that'll make tracking him down hard…"_ Yuuya thought, then going back to typing another reply in.

"Well then, what are the most common spots he's sighted in?"

"Hmm… Konori! Were have we been spotting sightings of that intruder at most often?" Makoto called out, and sliding out from another area was a girl who, like the two boys, was in highschool, though it was a bit hard to believe considering her well-developed body, which more often than not drove Ryotaro nuts, with short, bob cut black hair and eyes to match set behind thin, oblong glasses, and she was rather cute as well.

"I think it was your school district and the nearby areas. Why do you… oh… long time no see Resonator. Nice to see you made a full recovery after causing that sonic boom." Konori murmured, an amused smirk on her face, and Yuuya chuckled in a slightly embarrassed manner, remembering how hard the girl had grilled him when he was in the hospital since the only reason he'd even caused that sonic boom a while back was because he'd gotten jumped and had been rather severely injured and reacted on instinct.

"Really Konori, he didn't deserve to get grilled that hard… I mean, sure, Yuuya here blew out the windows within an entire block and put all four of those douchebags in the hospital because of severe brain hemorrhaging… I'm surprised their heads didn't explode." Makoto muttered.

"I know I know. It's just a fun topic to tease him with is all. Either way, why do you wanna know where that guy is showing up? You're not thinking of pulling something reckless, are you?" Konori asked, and Yuuya tilted a hand back and forth, which led to Konori looked at Makoto.

"Hey, I ain't got any idea what this guy even _does_ half the time. Yuuya's been in Academy City since he was a kid… I bet he knows a few people he shouldn't." Makoto stated, giving Yuuya a flat stare, the other Esper simply shrugging, but otherwise not making a statement of any sort that denied what Makoto was saying. "So this is either because you're curious or because you're about to do something really stupid or really reckless eh? Well, if you _do_ do something crazy, call me so I can get a piece of the action."

"Honestly Makoto? How can you just let your friend go off and of something like that?" Konori asked.

"You know my philosophy, _Mii._ Yuuya's technically a Level 5, he can handle himself. And hey, if he brings this guy in, less work for us. I honestly couldn't give a damn if Kuroko gets up my ass about letting a civilian get involved." Makoto murmured, leaning back and putting his feet up on the desk.

"Oh yeah, I didn't say it earlier, but watch your language when you're on duty." Konori chuckled, and Makoto stuck his tongue out at her.

"Ah shut it." Makoto muttered, and Yuuya chuckled.

"Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds to continue you're nightly "business". Oh, Makoto, cover for me at the dorms will ya? I'm not gonna be back for a while." Yuuya chuckled, already skirting out.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!? Mii, back me up will ya?" Makoto snapped, though Konori had just turned around, "OH COME ON!"

Yuuya chuckled as he zipped out of the office, but when he got aside, his look became somber.

"Well, guess it's into the frying pan for me. Hehehe, been a while since I got to have an adventure with this much challenge to it. Alright Blesse, let's see if I can track you down." Yuuya mused, vanishing into the night…


	6. Chapter 6

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 6: Resonator**

 _ **Judgement Branch 177**_

Makoto watched Yuuya trot out of the building and sighed, turning back to the laptop he was working on, but then, he opened up a file… specifically, Yuuya's dossier.

"Hm? Why are you opening up that file?" Konori asked, looking over Yuuya's shoulder at the screen.

"Just refreshing myself on the basics… Yuuya Bakura, aka Resonator, Academy City's strongest Sound Master and a rare Gemstone Esper, one of 50 in the world, as well as a Child Error… damn… I know Yuuya transferred to my highschool a couple years ago and I knew he's lived here for years… but a Child Error too? Holy shit…"

"Well, it does say he's a Gemstone… maybe he was sent here at a young age because he couldn't control his powers when he was young. Resonator is pretty strong. In fact, why _isn't_ he a Level 5?" Konori asked.

"Well, if you do some digging, Yuuya _is_ a Level 5… but, because he refusesto _let_ himself be recognized as one until he believes he deserves to be called one, then Yuuya won't go all out during the tests. I mean, he's already broken Mach 2, and I can just tell he'll keep getting faster from there… but attack power? The guy wants to match Railgun…" Makoto murmured.

"So he wants to get to the same level of skill and power as Misaka?" Konori asked, taking a seat.

"That or better… there's been all kinds of reports of the two of them having duked it out when they were younger here in the city… Judgement and Anti-Skill have report files on every last incident involving the two of them." Makoto stated, "But what is he involved with now? Yuuya get's into some shady stuff."

"Well then, it's a good thing he's got you for a friend, Ice Prince of Shirai." Konori chuckled, tapping Makoto on the shoulder.

"Ah shut it X-Ray Eyes." Makoto scoffed, but a small smirk was on his face as he said it.

 _ **With Yuuya**_

Yuuya looked out over the district from the rooftop he was on top of, scanning around the area as best he could, a pair of binoculars over his eyes.

"Hmm… that guy couldn't have gone far with Blesse in tow… and the siting logs say he camps out in this district…" Yuuya murmured, "And not like I can trace them by sound, there's too many sound waves bouncing around for me to pinpoint anything properly…"

Yuuya sighed and lowered the binoculars, letting them hang around his neck, putting a hand on his hips.

"I told Touma I wouldn't ask him for help unless I needed it, and I _really_ don't wanna get him involved in this… already went to Makoto for help… Sui is out of the question because she'd go berserk if she found out I was doing this for a girl… Railgun would try to blast me first… hagh… guess I'm doin' this one solo. Geez, this is like that Level Upper incident, had to solve too much shit on my own…"

Yuuya chuckled and took off to get back down to the streets, and once he was, he proceeded along through the thinning out crowds since it was around curfew for the students anyway, and he let out a breath as things began quieting down, and he raised a brow when he got close to one of the abandoned buildings that was up for renovation in the district.

"Weird… there's something odd about this place… I mean it's normally creepy yeah but it's normally never _quiet…_ I can always pick up the sound of _something_ moving in there…" Yuuya murmured, looking around to make sure the coast was clear before hopping the fence, trotting into the abandoned area and looking around as he proceeded in.

"Hel-lo! Anyone here!" Yuuya called out, amplifying his voice so the echoes would carry further, and he let out a small growl of annoyance, "Gagh… I can't just rely on sound here… alright then… time to let the "Resonator" bit work out more than usual."

Yuuya knelt on the ground and placed a hand on the dirt, laying his fingers spread and his palm flat, and he closed his eyes as he let out a breath.

" _My power is called Resonator because it's not just sound waves I can control… I'm a Gemstone… which means it's more than that… I can resonate with the Earth itself to use my power… EM Waves, vibrations, sound waves, pulses… anything that can cause some kind of resonance… and I can feel and control all of it… so, following that… I should also be able to pick up on the traces left behind by others to see what else was here…"_

Yuuya let out a pulse that matched his heartbeat as he breathed in a deep, steady manner, searching for any kind of trace of anyone around, and as the pulse went through the floors of the building, his eyes snapped open when he caught two other heart beats a few floors up.

"Up there eh? Hehehe, time for a bit of fun!" Yuuya stood up and clenched his hands, stomping down and launching up, and he growled when he was sent back to the ground by a sudden burst of black energy.

"Hahahahaha! I'm surprised you found me, Esper!"

Yuuya stood up and looked up at a nearby balcony, where Viltra, or perhaps another copy of the sorcerer since Yuuya had sensed him inside, was standing.

"Hehe. You could say I didn't tell you the full truth about how my powers work the first time we fought. And this is definitely another copy of you. It doesn't have a heartbeat!" Yuuya pointed a finger at the sorcerer, and he scoffed.

"Tch! You really are an annoying sort! Either way, the barrier you collided with will stop you from trying to take an easy route! If you want to save the Azure Flame than be my guest! Try to fight your way up to the fifteenth floor! I'd like to see how useful a power that relies on sound is once you enter my darkness!"

And with that, the copy of Viltra faded into the shadows, and Yuuya wiped off his chin as he slipped his blazer off his arms and wrapped it around his waist, pulling the sleeves tight around his waist and cracking his knuckles.

"Bring it!"

Yuuya dashed into the building, shooting up to the second floor after skidding to a stop at the stairs, bouncing up until he reached the next open floor, floor three…

XXXXXXX

"Hehehe… something you may like to hear girl. That big mouth Esper you were with decided to show up!" Viltra chuckled as he put a hand on his head, and Blesse gasped.

"Yuuya came! He came! Hahaha…" Blesse laughed lightly, and Viltra growled.

"Honestly… you barely got to spend a day with the boy. Why are you holding so much hope this Esper will save you?" Vlitra muttered.

"Because Yuuya was the first person I knew who actually showed me some common decency and treated me like I was my own age! It was brief… but… he didn't care if I was from the Magic Side or not. And I can see it in his heart. He's a good person, _far_ better than you are Viltra!" Blesse snapped, and Viltra shut her up by putting a hand on her chin.

"That mouth of yours was always so annoying to listen to… allow me to repeat myself, Blesse. The boy is an _Esper._ And furthermore, one who was _born_ with his powers, if I am correct from what I picked up while trailing the two of you. He's more of a threat to our allies than even _he_ knows. A lot like that Imagine Breaker…" Vlitra stepped back, and Blesse was wishing her hands were free so she could give him the bird.

"Don't tell me you're _scared_ of him Viltra!" Blesse mocked, and Viltra growled again.

"A boy who's power revolves around sound and waves within the air is nothing! He may be strong but it is far too simple! I'll prove it by finishing him with the gauntlet I've laid out throughout the floors leading to this one! No one without the power to cancel out magic itself could possibly survive that many traps, no matter what power they possesses!" Viltra was _angry_ that he was being mocked, and Blesse chuckled.

"Viltra… neither of us know what Yuuya can do when he quits holding back… he's just that kind of person. You can see it in his eyes. I'm actually eager to see him whoop your ass for real!" Blesse chuckled, and Viltra growled.

"I will never understand how the heart of a maiden works. I'll simply shatter whatever hope you've decided to instill in this Esper… and as assurance I'll make sure he dies with my poison coursing through his veins. Let's see how long this "Resonator" lasts against me once I stop holding back!"

XXXX

"C'mon, you gonna do something already? I'm going slow just to see if you pull something! But even then I'm already at floor 6 and you haven't done anything!"

Yuuya was using his hands as a megaphone as he called out, scanning around the dark area.

"Hahahaha! Oh don't worry Esper, I'll give you a challenge you'll never forget! WELCOME TO THE INSIDE OF THE OUROBOROS!"

Viltras voice wasn't even in the air, in fact, it sounded more like he was _in Yuuya's head itself,_ and then everything went totally black itself, any light that had been filtering in completely gone.

"Hahaha! Let's see if you can use that power of yours once I've deprived you of your senses! You cannot see what is coming, and you yourself said that you can't sense something without a heartbeat… so, how will you perform against a viper who moves silently?"

" _Dammit… I can't sense a copy by a heartbeat… it doesn't have one… but wait… what CAN I do to sense something around me… sound is out of the question now, or so he says…"_ Yuuya raised his hand and snapped, and he blinked when he saw the soundwave move out and bounce off of the nearby pillars and other solid objects, and then he chuckled, _"Echo location! That's how!"_

"Hehehe. You may have prevented me from seeing, but you forgot that I can manipulate sound waves! I can use echo location just like bats can FYI!" Yuuya chuckled and, from memory alone, switched his headphones to speaker mode and cranked up the music, using the waves from the tunes to make a constant stream of reverberating sounds, and he chuckled as he managed to nail multiple copies rushing towards him from multiple directions.

Yuuya sped up and slammed the first copy with a boosted hit, and he blasted through a pillar with a sound wave to hit another, and he jumped off of the one he'd hit to land behind the third copy and then swung a kick into it hard enough to knock it through a pillar.

"HAHA! See that you bastard! Take away my sight, and I'll just make up for it with sound!" Yuuya dashed up to the next floor, where things were clear instead of dark, and then a dark chuckle pierced the air as he reached the next set of stairs.

"Impressive, but petty! If you work with sound, then I wish to know… what happens when I prevent you from hearing?! The darkness smothers all senses! No sound nor light can pierce it!"

And this time, when the shadows clamped down, in place of the light being shut out, Yuuya gasped when suddenly, he couldn't hear a _thing. At all._

" _No way… he can cancel out sound waves?! But… if I can't hear them… then I can't use the sound waves properly…"_ Yuuya blinked as he looked around, and he yelled when he was hit from behind, being sent sprawling, skidding to a stop and looking up to see another one of Viltra's copies where he'd been before, and Yuuya dashed out of the way when shadowy snakes lashed out at him form his own shadow.

" _Not gonna fall for that one again!"_ Yuuya landed and ducked another blow from the copy.

Without being able to use soundwaves, Yuuya couldn't speed up either since his speed relied on using soundwaves to amplify it in the first place. And cutting off his sense of hearing did more than _just_ make it hard to pinpoint where an enemy was for Yuuya.

The result was Yuuya barely managing to get a blow in as he was batted around like a ragdoll, the copy slamming him with arms that were like baseball bats as they hit him, Yuuya barely managing to minimize most of the blows by instinct alone, and putting up with the snakes attacking him from the shadows was even harder to do, and it was his dumb luck that kept Yuuya from being bitten.

" _Come on! I'm called Resonator for crying out loud! How did I get so used to using only sound waves that I'm not using others anymore?!"_ Yuuya yelled again as he was slammed by a dark wave of energy, skidding across the floor and to the wall, the copy of Viltra slowly drifting towards him as the shadowy snakes followed him, _"Dammit… but what else can I use?! Dammit… think Yuuya… THINK GODDAMMIT!"_

XXXX

"Hahahaha! Look at him! Oh if only you could see this Blesse! Take away the boys ability to use sound and he's little more than an agile human who can prevent physical damage, but just barely! Ha! Some "Resonator"!" Viltra was cackling, and Blesse growled in the process of it all.

" _Come on… I have no idea what your powers are Yuuya… can't you come out and wow me and this sick bastard by doing something unexpected? I thought Espers specialized in those kinds of things! Improvise, do something out of the box and throw logic to the window! You said you're a Gemstone right… for crying out loud, your powers don't even follow the laws of physics! Use that to your advantage against this guy!"_ Blesse knew her thoughts couldn't reach Yuuya, but, she felt the need to make some kind of rant at him.

XXXX

" _Resonator… heh… I need to prove that name true here… don't I? To everyone… Academy City's Best Sound Master? Yeah, that's a bluff… I can use way more than just sound to my advantage… I just stuck to what I was good with… what kind of Level 5 would I be if I didn't use all of my power? Come on… there has to be something here… EM Waves are all over the place… sound, heat, light… anything that comes from an EM wave is at my disposal… time to go all out then…"_

Yuuya stood up, and he chuckled, despite not being able to hear himself speak at the moment.

"Hey, sorcerer, you can hear me though that clone of yours, right?" Yuuya spoke, cracking his knuckles, "You know how I told you I was the best sound master in Academy City? That was a bluff."

"What?! No way he can hear anything…" Viltra's clone spoke for him, but then he realized that Yuuya was simply speaking for no seeming reason… at least to the sorcerer.

"I say that because sound is such an easy wave to use. It's everywhere, it's simple, and it's malleable. But you wanna know _why_ my power and nickname is Resonator? It's because my power, quite literally, let's me resonate with any kind of electromagnetic wave on the spectrum and any kind of wave spawned from it… sound, light, heat… any of them." Yuuya looked up with a confident look, and Viltra stepped back with an angry growl, "And sure, you cut off my ability to hear so it's hard to use sound waves… but you forgot about the light… sure it's faint, but I can still use it, can't I?"

As Yuuya spoke, he lifted his right hand, and Viltra gasped when silver light began gathering in a swirl, as if he was pulling it in from the filtering moonlight itself.

"What?! No!" Viltra clapped his hands, and Yuuya smirked as the light near his hand gathered into a ball as Viltra's snakes began obscuring the gaps that were letting light in.

"Too late! I've already gathered it here! All I've gotta do now is this!" Yuuya pulled his arm back and then shot it forward again, the gathered light shooting forward in a beam that shot right through the copy Viltra and the wall as well, making a gaping whole in the ruined concrete, and Yuuya panted as he started hearing again, and he smiled as he looked at his hand, "Well, not quite railgun levels of power, but maybe adding to this can help. Alright then! Bring on the rest of this gauntlet you damn bastard! YOU HEAR ME! I'M COMING FOR BLESSE NO MATTER WHAT YOU THROW AT ME! So bring it, sorcerer!"

Yuuya amplified his voice so that it would echo through the building, and he was most definitely heard up at the needed floor, Blesse's look brightening and Viltra growling.

"No way… the brat uses more than sound?! Depriving him of his senses won't do a damn thing will it?!" Viltra slammed a pillar, and Blesse actually laughed.

"Hahaha! I don't know what he did, but if it pissed you off than it _had_ to be good! Seems my choice to believe in an Esper is paying off Viltra." Blesse mocked, and Viltra growled, grabbing the girl by her neck.

"I'll prove that wrong! I'll face the boy myself! Forget the Gauntlet of the Ouroboros, this "Resonator" has incurred the wrath of the viper himself! If he wants a head on battle, then I'll give him one!"

Viltra's look was a mix of tranquil fury and rage, and Blesse flinched as his grip tightened on her…

 _ **To be continued…**_

 **A/N**

 **Damn you writers blooock! Gagh, whatever. Cliffhanger badaboom!**


	7. Chapter 7

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 7: I don't need a reason to want to save someone!**

"Geez… did the guy give up or something? I'm already at the thirteenth floor and nothing else has happened yet."

Yuuya trotted up the last of the steps onto the mentioned floor, looking around as he scanned the room, making sure there was nothing to pop out at him, which there hadn't been ever since the previous challenge… and by this point he was getting a little annoyed at the lack of anything happening.

"HEY! SORCERER! What the hell huh?! You said you were gonna put me though a gauntlet right?! Well come on! I've got one more floor before reaching you, so what the hell eh?! Did you give up or something?" Yuuya amplified his voice as he called out, sighing when not a reply came back, "Come on! Well at least he's not being a cliché… for the most part…"

"Oh trust me Esper, I'm far from done!"

Yuuya turned when he heard Viltra, spotting the sorcerer coming out from behind some pillars, an unconscious Blesse in his grasp.

"Tch… let her go." Yuuya clenched a fist, and Viltra chuckled.

"Sorry boy, but I can't do that. It goes against my reason for being here. I was sent to capture this run away and bring her back by any means necessary… and while I was ordered to avoid direct battle… you've proven to be a nuisance." Viltra handed Blesse off to a copy, which shifted back to the sidelines, "And I _hate_ people who get in my way like that…"

"Heh, please, all I've been doing is just kickin' your ass by beating those dumb trials. All I did was make use of the fact you don't know what my powers can do in full. I am a Gemstone after all, not even this city can predict the extent of a power like mine. By all standards I'm overpowered like hell… or, well, I just won the super power lottery _big time."_ Yuuya shrugged and had a "shit eating" grin on his face for the sole purpose of being mocking to the sorcerer, who scoffed and gave a smirk.

"Hagh, so I see you're also the arrogant type eh?" VIltra scoffed in retort, and Yuuya simply kept that same grin on his face.

"There's a _very_ fine line between arrogance and knowing how good you are at something… but in my book I think it's fine to be a little arrogant. Modesty can only carry you so far, and being unwilling to admit when you _are_ better than someone is kind of a bad thing. Sure some may call you out for it or even hate you… but hey, can't please everybody in the world." Yuuya simply shrugged again, and Viltra chuckled.

"Amusing philosophy… one I honestly can't argue against… true, modesty isn't too bad but, but like arrogance, have too much of it and it becomes an annoyance that the person isn't willing to be honest about their skills. A fine point to make in society nowadays, where far too many people are concerned with whether or not what they say will offend somebody." Viltra twirled a strand of hair, and Yuuya let out a musing hum.

"Never thought I'd see the antagonist of this little story we have playing out agreeing with the protagonist… besides, Academy City is the kind of place where offending someone doesn't matter anyway."

"Ahahaha! Antagonist? My that's amusing… because form _my_ perspective, _you_ are the antagonist and _I'm_ the protagonist of this tale we are locked into." Viltra replied, giving his own smirk, "But have it your way then… I'll play the villain for once."

"Tch… you already are." Yuuya scoffed, and when a hiss came from behind him, as a snake lunged from his shadow, Yuuya shot his hand down and blasted it with a bolt of lightning, Viltra gasping, "Sorry, that's not getting me twice."

"Lightning? First sound, then light… what else can your foul power let you use?!" Viltra growled as he lowered his arm, and Yuuya chuckled.

"Basically anything that counts as an EM wave… sound, light, heat, electricity, vibrations, you name it… even forms of energy are at my whim to use. Though I've been so used to using sound for so long I hardly ever used the other types… so thanks for knocking it into to me to be more versatile, it was helpful." Yuuya tapped his head, and in a flash of movement, he was behind Viltra, a fist reared back, and with the familiar gunshot sound, his fist flew forward, VIltra blocking it with a wall of shadows that stopped the blow dead.

"Don't think you can break through that with physical attacks Esper!" Viltra shot back, discarding his cloak and revealing the black robes beneath them, sending a wave of snakes at Yuuya.

"Heh, didn't count on it, now, enough chit chat, let's get to it!" Yuuya dashed forward and dodged the hissing mass heading for him, gathering light in his hand and blasting through, dashing again and throwing a round house kick at Viltra, who blocked it with both arms, then sweeping Yuuya's remaining leg, causing the boy to fall, Yuuya responding by using the momentum to land on his hands and flip back as Viltra tried to smash him with a fist covered in shadows, causing a blast as Yuuya flipped out of range that left a hole in the floor, the Esper responding by letting loose a blast of sound that vibrated the air with a frequency high enough to make VIltra slam his hands over his ears.

"GAGH! Damn that infernal power!" Viltra growled, and two clones shot out of the shadows, and as they lunged, Yuuya slammed his hands on the ground, frying the two clones with an electrical pulse that coursed across the ground to them, the clones falling in spasms before fading.

"Y'know, I want to make something clear right here." Yuuya stood up, lowing his headphones onto his neck, "I don't intend to kill you…"

"WHAT?! You're facing someone who has the full intent to wipe you from the face of this earth and you're saying you don't want to kill me?! The shadow smothers all light and feelings! It creates the fear in all of us!" Viltra yelled the spell, and the shadows in the room shot out and gathered to make a thick dome over Yuuya, and a few moments later, the dome started cracking apart and flames started flickering from the widening cracks before the dome burst and then faded, Yuuya standing amid a circle of bright flames that soon lowered, a serious look on his face.

"Exactly! Taking a life is only a last resort! I'll fight as hard as I can, but I won't kill you!" Yuuya shot forward, kicking aside a few more clones, stopping right in front of Viltra with both arms reeled back into fists, "I'll sure as hell beat your ass into the dirt though!"

Yuuya shot his fists forward and slammed Viltra in the gut, the sorcerer buckling over and then he was sent flying into a pillar hard enough to crack it, falling to the ground and getting up onto his hands and knees, coughing up blood.

"And yet you fight with such fury and attack in ways that could kill someone…" Viltra spat a retort, and Yuuya simply smirked in reply.

"I don't have to worry when it's your clones. Those things are nothing but your magic and those snakes of yours as well. I can go lethal on them without any worries, but I can assure you I'd never actually aim a lethal attack at someone unless I had to." Yuuya cracked his knuckles as Viltra stood, the sorcerer growling, "But, I've gotta ask… if sorcerers have to use some kind of system to cast magic, then where's yours? I don't see anything like runes are cards on you…"

"Hehehe… that's because the system for the Ouroboros is inscribed onto my very body!" Viltra cast aside the shirt of his robes, and Yuuya gasped to see the man's torso _riddled_ with scars in various, elaborate patterns, and in the center of his chest was the symbol of the Ouroboros, "To use this magic it requires having to endure pain unlike anything else in this world as the Ouroboros' power enters your body! It's why the magic is considered forbidden, as not many can survive receiving it. But I did so! It's why I won't lose to same Esper! I don't care if you were born with those powers or not, I cannot lose to someone like you!"

"Tch… no wonder you're so crazy." Yuuya scoffed as Viltra charged, dodging a stream of snakes and jumping as another tried to lash at him front he shadows, his eyes widening when Viltra jumped and matched him in the air, Yuuya blocking as he was slammed by the same attack from earlier, getting slammed into the ground hard enough to be sent to the floor below and still leave a dent in the floor, "Gagh… dammit that hurt more than I thought it would… and this guy speed up or something?! That was to fast for me to be able to… GAGH!"

"Don't waste your time babbling!" Viltra shot down and booted Yuuya out of the crater, the Esper rolling across the floor and coming to a limp stop, "Tch, that's what annoys me about Espers so much… all you do is ramble on and on about things! It's sickening!"

Viltra shot over to Yuuya was he got up, faster than Yuuya could see or react too, getting slammed again and sent flying into a pillar, Viltra slithering forward and slamming Yuuya in the chest repeatedly, enough to force him back into the pillar and stay there.

"So many boasts, and yet that was enough to end you was it? Pah… Blesse was wrong to put her hopes in you… why did you even bother boy? You just met her this very night and yet you're so determined to help… why even bother?! It was none of your business!" Viltra slammed Yuuya again, the boy coughing up blood each time he was hit, "People like you are the most annoying! You're always so self-righteous and think that no matter what, you do the right thing regardless of the consequences later on! You think saving one girl who you've just met will mean anything?! Stop and think about the consequences! Keep that girl around you and you become the enemy of the Church! You'd be relentlessly targeted because of it, and not only that, who knows what this kind of attitude could bring on? Don't think you're some kind of hero, Esper!"

Each of the sentences was punctuated by another powerful blow, and one could hear a few of Yuuya's ribs crack as he was repeatedly hit, but, once the final punch wreathed in shadows came down, Yuuya's arm shot out and caught the incoming fist, and Viltra screamed when he started feeling his skin _burn,_ and his eyes widened to see there was a white hot flames coming off of Yuuya's hand.

"Oh be quiet… I don't think I'm some kind of hero… and I could care less about the long term consequences in this situation… screw you guys and what you want for Blesse… it's not what she wants so I say let the girl have her way!" Yuuya pulled his other arm back and slammed the pillar, a loud noise sounding, said pillar turning into _dust_ from the heavy, amplified blow, Yuuya landing on his feet, his burning grip on Viltra still holding firm, and Yuuya smirked, wiping off the blood on his chin. "You asked why I felt the need to protect her right? Pah… I don't need a reason to want to protect someone!"

Yuuya pulled his free hand back and slugged Viltra across the face, then sending the man flying across the room and right to the edge. Yuuya coughed again, putting an arm across his chest, and Viltra hissed as he stood again, gazing at his severely burnt hand.

"You fucking brat! You'll pay for that!" Viltra roared and sent a _massive_ hoard of shadowy serpents streaming at Yuuya, and the Espers gaze was hard but calm as it rushed towards him.

"I'm done holding back…" Yuuya spoke quietly, lifting his hand, and with a snap of his fingers and a crackle of electricity, the wave of snakes was blown apart by a combined blast of compressed sound and lighting, Viltra wide eyed as the bolt shot past his head and slammed the wall of the building behind them, watching as his spell faded while Yuuya had that calm look on his face, his hand in a gun shape from the end of that snap, "You know, the only reason I'm a Level 4 is because I always hold back during the Level exams… if I wanted to, I could've been a Level 5 a _long_ time ago because of my power… sure, it's not quite being able to create and manipulate dark matter or redirect vectors… hell, all Resonator is is a combination of different types of powers when you get down to it. Pyrokenisis, sound mastery, electro mastery, light manipulation, any power that involves some kind of EM wave of even vibrations… powers generated by the Earth itself… a power like that could only _be_ a Gemstone though… and trust me, this power used to utterly terrify me as a kid since I couldn't control it before."

Yuuya stepped forward, increasing the volume of the now _blazing_ music coming from his headphones, walking forwards steadily, and as Viltra kept attacking him, he just continued to blast them aside with the same attack, and as he closed the gap and got closer to the center of the room, VIltra began panicking, his attacks growing frantic.

"Get back… get back you damned Esper!" Viltra roared in fury and even _fear_ as Yuuya progressed ever closer, the young man still keeping that calm look on, and with another, stronger blast, Yuuya shot through the next wave and shot forward at full speed, reappearing right in front of Viltra with a fist pulled back, electricity sparking from his clenched fist as it rose up, the blow nailing Viltra right on the side of his head and sending the sorcerer sprawling with an audible _bang_ and a bolt of lightning added to it.

Viltra shot back up, snakes coiling around his arm, and he shot back to Yuuya, the Esper dodging as the man threw his arms forward to lash at him, Yuuya responding with an electrified roundhouse kick to the gut and then a burning fist to the face, catching Viltra by the arm and slamming him to the ground, the sorcerer chuckling and sinking into the shadows out of Yuuya's grasp, coming back out behind the teenager, who phased out as he sped up and appeared behind Viltra once more, giving a hammer blow to the head of his opponent that slammed him into the ground, and while still in the air, Yuuya rolled as electric bolts gathered in his hand, then slamming Viltra into the ground and breaking the floor so that they feel down to the next.

"Consider that me returning the favor from earlier!" Yuuya flipped back when a stream of hissing, _very_ angry snakes shot up like a geyser and gave chase to him, Yuuya flitting around the room and blasting the snakes as they came close while Viltra rose up.

"DAMN YOU! How can you stand up to this power?! Fear is the most primal of all emotions, how is it you have not succumbed to this!? Why can't I break you!?" Viltra roared as the wave soon enclosed Yuuya, and he then broke out into mad, hissing laughter, "Or maybe I can… perhaps your boasts were for naught Esper! Let's see how long you last under that writhing mass of snakes as my magic seeps into your very mind! DARKNESS IS THE EMBODIMENT OF FEAR! LET IT WREATH HIS BODY AND DESTROY HIS MIND!"

The writhing mass soon turned into a mass of squirming shadows like the dome from before, but, with another burst, the dome shattered and fell, Yuuya standing up as the sahdows faded, cracking his knuckles.

"Yeah well I overcame my fears a _long_ time ago… true, I limited myself because part of me was still scared of my power and I was getting involved with a lot of stuff I probably shouldn't have… but you know what? I'm done being scared! When I said that you helped me realize I need to be more versatile, I wasn't kidding. Sound is a useful thing to use… but it'll only get me so far! If I'm going to have to fight people like you because I chose to save one girl, then I need to get faster, stronger, better! I don't need to just be a Level 5, I need to be strong enough to face any challenge in my way! So I accept that challenge! I don't care about titles or anything like that… I'm just sick of being weak… it's why I chose to become a Level 5… so I'll show you! The power that will prove it not to just Academy City, but myself as well!" Yuuya brought his right hand forward, and light began to gather on his palm as electricity was crackling around his hand and one could hear a faint but high pitched whining noise in the air as well, and it seemed as if the air around Yuuya's hand was _vibrating_ because of it as well.

"Wait… what are you doing?!" Viltra stepped back a bit, and Yuuya's gaze was hardened at the sorcerer.

" _This_ is me using my full power! I don't control this power… no… I channel it… it flows through my body and I give it a course… _that's_ why I'm called Resonator!" Yuuya guided his hand into the position to snap, and now, one could hear a _very_ high keening noise as the air crackled with electricity and the light at Yuuya's hand became almost _blinding,_ "EAT THIS YOU SCUMBAG SORCERER!"

Yuuya snapped his fingers, and following it came a low sound that could only be the boom of _thunder,_ and following it was a beam of light back by a bolt of lightning that rushed headlong along the ground fast enough to scar the concrete, and VIltra formed a defensive wall, stopping the beam dead but in no way dissipating it as it pushed him back to the edge of the floor.

"WHAT?! Why didn't it dissipate!?" Viltra growled, the air now whipping abound like a gale as Yuuya held his arm steady as his attack pushed against Viltra's barrier.

"I'm putting everything I can into this! The light beams Sui used… Railgun's signature… my original power added in! This was made by learning from the two people who helped me grow both as a person _and_ as an Esper! The girl who gave me my voice back and the girl who beat my ass until I got up and fought back with everything I could muster! _This_ is what an Esper can do, sorcerer! We don't follow your rules of reality… BECAUSE WE MAKE OUR OWN!" Yuuya roared, and his blast then broke through Viltra's barrier, knocking the man back hard enough to slam him through the wall of the building and into the wall of the opposing building, the beam raking up the side of it as Yuuya diverted it to avoid killing the man, which caused it to cut through the old building until it reached the sky, and once it had dissipated, Yuuya fell back onto his rear, panting and staring at his hand while also clutching his throbbing chest. "Wow… that was… crazier than I thought it would be…"

Yuuya licked his dry lips and quieted his headphones, and he looked up towards the now comatose VIltra, the man more or less somewhat charred because of the blast, and the building the sorcerer was stuck in had a pretty decent rut in it now. But, what caught Yuuya's eye was that he saw a certain choker, the same one Blesse had, hanging off of Viltra's pants, and he then hobbled over, floating to retrieve it, and, while it was slow, Yuuya eventually made it to the still out cold Blesse, and he chuckled a bit.

"Hehe… she looks like she's sleeping." Yuuya sat down near the girl, taking the choker and placing it back around her neck, and that was when Blesse's eyes fluttered open.

"Huh? Where am… HUH?! Yuuya?! You're alive?!" Blesse gasped in shock, and Yuuya chuckled and gave a smile despite how beat up he was, putting hand on his headphones, which were still around his neck.

"Yep. Not exactly in good shape, but, alive nonetheless." Yuuya winced as he felt a pain in his chest as he took in a breath, and Blesse gasped.

"Viltra… what happened to him? And… let me look at that…" Blesse lifted Yuuya's bloodied shirt after pulling his blazer off, and she gasped in horror to see how bruised his skin was, not to mention how it was obvious to see his broken ribs as well.

"The snake dude? Oh he's knocked out and stuck in a wall… I'll give Anti Skill a call so they can come pick him up. And hey, slow down a bit… this hurts more than I'm letting on." Yuuya shut and eye, and Blesse sighed.

"You know, you didn't have to help me… I mean… we _literally_ just met tonight." Blesse moved a hand to her choker, and Yuuya chuckled.

"Yeah but that doesn't matter to me. If I can help someone than fine by me. Doesn't matter if I've known them for my whole life or five minutes. Geez… I'm gonna be in the hospital for a while because of this…" Yuuya sighed as he looked at his wounds, and Blesse hummed.

"Well… I am kind of weak right now since Viltra… well…" Blesse rubbed her throat a bit, glad to feel her choker again, "But… I think I can muster enough of my magic to at least make these less severe…"

Yuuya hummed, and while it was hard to see because of his bloodied face, he blushed as Blesse put a hand on his chest, the other over her choker.

"O azure flames that breathed life into the earth… the flames of the mighty Phoenix that tell of life and rebirth… repair what has been damaged and restore what has been lost…" As Blesse spoke, the hand she had pressed to Yuuya formed a small, flickering ball of azure flame that soon moved across his wounds, and unexpectedly to the Esper, the fire was warm as it moved across him, like the kind of warm one felt while under a kotatsu during winter… a nice, comforting warmth. "Heal the damage that has been dealt… and fix broken bonds."

After a bit more chanting, Blesse stepped back, panting heavily, and Yuuya looked down, surprised to see that most of his wounds were healed, though it was obvious his ribs hadn't been repaired and some of the heavier bruises were still present.

"Whoa…" Yuuya could only whistle in awe, and Blesse nodded.

"I could have done more… but like I said, I'm still kind of weak… still, that should make it easier on the doctors… granted I guess your ribs will just have to wait until I can…" As Blesse continued, Yuuya shook his head.

"Nope… no more magical assistance. I want these to heal naturally… sure I'll be stuck in a hospital for a bot but, I'll feel better about it… ehehehehe… still, I think I did pretty awesome in realize what I can _really_ do today." Yuuya looked at his hand again, and Bleese blinked, yelping when she saw the gash in both the other building _and_ the floor.

"YOU MADE THAT?! HOW?!" Blesse yelped and shock, and Yuuya winked.

"That's a secret little miss. Now come on… I'm gonna need some help getting down while I call Anti-Skill."

XXXXX

 **Hospital**

"Haaagh… yeah, it's official… being bedridden _sucks ass."_

Yuuya set his head back on the pillow of the bed he was on in the hospital. It was the day after his fight with Viltra, and currently, Yuuya's chest was heavily wrapped in bandages, not to mention a lot of other parts of him as well.

"Well that's what happens when you get as injured as you did… really now, what _did_ you get into?"

Yuuya looked to the side to see the familiar, funnily frog like face, of the doctor known as Heaven Canceller, someone he knew well.

"Oh you know doc, same ol' same ol' for me… granted this time around it was a bit more hectic than usual." Yuuya gave a small shrug, using a hand to adjust his headphones down to his neck.

"Hagh… the things you get involved with. Well, you should be out pretty soon… just try not to be like your friend Mr. Kamijou and get stuck here too frequently." Canceller had a hint of amusement in his voice, and Yuuya gave a small laugh combined with a simple smile.

"Sure thing doc. See you around then."

Canceller nodded and left, leaving Yuuya alone in the room, though not for long, as Blesse soon entered, the girl no longer wearing her robe, which showed the white jacket she wore over the black shirt that, for whatever reason, bared her midriff (and made it dead obvious how flat in a certain department she was), and black pants along with white boots that hugged her admittedly shapely legs.

"Uhm… H-hey Yuuya…" Blesse sat down in the seat on the side, and Yuuya adjusted the bed to sit up.

"Hey. So, how's the hospital treatin' ya?" Yuuya chuckled, and Blesse's face reddened.

"Oh shut up. Besides, I should be the one saying that to you. You _really_ don't want me to finish healing your wounds though? Cause I can finish it up in a snap with my magic just like that." Blesse held up a finger in a matter-of-fact manner, and Yuuya made a buzzer noise.

"BZZZZ! Nope. I am healing naturally, and that is…."

"YUUUU-CHAAAAN!'

"Oh shit she's here now…"

And nary a moment after that came out of Yuuya's mouth, Suisho bounded into the room and glomped right onto Yuuya, the young man yelling as she impacted his chest.

"When I heard you were hear I came _immediately_ after school let out! You're not to hurt are you?!" Suisho pulled back with tears in her eyes, and Yuuya grimaced in pain.

"Sui… chest… broken ribs… please get off of me…" Yuuya muttered, and Suisho shot back to the side of the bed.

"Sorry! I am so sorry! But seriously who did this?! Tell me and I promise I'll give them a world of pain that they'll never forget! Nobody hurts my Yuu and gets away with it!" Suisho was outright _furious,_ while Blesse looked _freaked out_ by the aura coming off of Suisho while Yuuya just sighed.

"Holy shit this girl is hardcore…" Blesse murmured.

"Sui it's fine. The guy was taken in by Anti-Skill, and _no,_ I'm not telling you who it is… I don't want a repeat of that incident _last year_ that ended badly for everyone involved." Yuuya leaned back on the pillow, and Suisho shook her head.

"NO! I am finding this person and paying back everything they did to you _one thousand times over!"_ Suisho threw up a hand in declaration, and while she was busy with that, Yuuya looked over at Blesse and mouthed "Hide before she see's you", the young sorceress complying and shooting underneath the bed in a second.

"Ms. Suisho, _please_ don't got on a spree again… we had enough trouble at Judgement the last time you did that… I'd hate for there to be a repeat of it… _again."_ Makoto entered, soon followed by Ryotaro and Mochida.

"DUDE! Why the hell didn't you call us when you got admitted?!" Ryotaro had to be held back by Mochida via the bespectacled Esper's telekinesis, Mochida sighing.

"Ryo, calm down before you end up hurting Yuu more than he already _is._ Seriously dude. This isn't the first time our resident psycho has been admitted to a hospital… hell, Yuu is in better shape than the _last time_ this happened." Mochida stated that fact, and Ryotaro folded his arms as he was forced to more or less float in place.

"Whatever… just concerned about my friend is all…" Ryotaro huffed, and Mochida just rolled his eyes.

"Well, aside from their usual schtick, nice to see you're in one piece anyway bro. Still, you look like shit." Makoto chuckled, bumping fists with Yuuya, the latter laughing.

"Ah shut it Ice King, you look like you just rolled outta bed." Yuuya replied teasingly, Makoto chuckling.

"I actually did. Spent the night at the Branch 'cause of work." Makoto put his hands in his jacket, and Ryotaro chuckled.

"Oh~! Spendin' some quality time with Konori I see." Ryotaro put a hand under his chin and gave a trolling grin… and not to mention he was now floating upside down no thanks to Mochida's restraint, and cue the kid spinning around like a top courtesy of his angry older brother.

"NO YOU FRICKIN' PERVERT! Besides we're not a couple any way!" Makoto formed a snow ball in his hands and stopped Ryotaro's spinning, shoving said snowball down his brothers shirt, the Pyrokinetic yelping in shock.

"AAAAGGGGHHH! COOOOOLLLLDDD!" Ryotaro pretty much shrieked like a girl as he tried to stop the cold from seeping in, and Mochida was laughing so hard he dropped the other Esper flat onto his rear, and Yuuya was stopping himself from busting out too hard as well so as not to hurt himself, while Suisho gave an amused grin… and underneath the bed Blesse was keeping herself from laughing so as not to be heard.

"Okay guys, come on, I'm supposed to be resting, not laughing my ass off. Hahaha! Go on and scat, I'm sure you guys got things to do." Yuuya shooed his friends out, Makoto dragging Ryotaro and Mochida with him.

"Yuu! I'll be sure to bring you some of those mochi balls you like 'kay?! My treat!" Ryotaro shot back in before getting pulled out again, and Yuuya nodded.

"Be sure to do that!" Yuuya lowered his hand and looked at Suisho, "And now it's your turn Sui. I'm positive you've got some of your own business to take care of at Tokiwadi anyway."

"No. I'm not leaving until you're recovered." Suisho sat down with her hands in her lap, and Yuuya rolled his eyes.

"I appreciate the gesture Sui, but really, I'll be fine, trust me. I'm a pretty fast healer just so y'know. I'll be outta here in a couple of days, I can bet you that. Academy City isn't thirty years ahead of the world for nothing." Yuuya closed an eye and chuckled, Suisho puffing out a cheek defiantly.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Come on Sui…"

"No."

"Really, you can go…"

"I'm not leaving this spot."

"You _do_ have school."

"I can miss a few days."

"I have sick days I can use… you go to a private school need I remind you."

"Don't care."

"Suisho, seriously, go, or else I'll zap you right out of that chair until you do."

"Since when could you use electricity?"

"Since forever… I just never used it much till now."

After another moment of silence between the two, Suisho sighed and reluctantly stood up.

"Okay… but, I'm checking in every day until you're out, alright?"

"Just don't go all paranoid psycho on me, 'kay? Don't worry, I'll be fine here."

"Good then." Suisho knelt down and pecked Yuuya on the cheek, the boy blushing hard, "Get better soon, kay Yuu?"

Suisho trotted out with her arms behind her back, and once she was gone, Blesse rolled out from under the bed, her mouth agape.

"What? Does she… uh…" Blesse looked at Yuuya with that confused face, Yuuya shaking his head to get his composure.

"Sui's always been like that for as long as I've known her… for some reason…" Yuuya sighed and leaned back, while Blesse puffed out a cheek.

"Well I think it's pretty obvious how she feels about you… but, on a different note… what are you planning on doing once you get out of here?"

Yuuya gave a small grin as he glanced over at Blesse, chuckling in a weirdly mischievous but nice way.

"It should be pretty obvious… I'm gonna become the Next Level 5… for _real."_

 _ **A few days later…**_

"Is Yuu sure about this? I mean, every time he's taken the test he;s gotten level 4…"

Ryotaro, Mochida, and Makoto were in a viewing room that overlooked the area that was set aside for the Esper Ability Test at their school, and namely, the area set apart for _Yuuya_ specifically due to his power, said Esper on the floor stretching, currently in his gym clothes, and, quite oddly to his friends, his headphones simply hanging around his neck.

"I have a feeling something about this one is gonna be different. Look at Yuu's eyes, they're way more determined than usual." Mochida leaned back in his seat, Makoto nodding.

"Yeah… there's been something different about him since the day he was put into the hospital as well… like something in him woke up… I think." Makoto scratched the side of his head, and then the test proctor spoke.

"Alright Bakura, you can start the retest of your Ability Level any time. Show us what you got."

"Alright! Oh, by the by, you _may_ want to cover your ears… oh, and you _did_ set up the buffers I asked about right?" Yuuya stretched his arms one last time, the proctor nodding.

"Yes… though I was curious as too why…" The proctor adjusted his glasses, and Yuuya simply smirked.

"Oh you'll see in about five seconds." Yuuya cranked up the volume on his headphones, tapping his foot as he lifted his right hand in the usual position that was so familiar to see, and lo and behold the surprise on the faces of those watching as electricity started crackling off of his hand while light slowly gathered, along with that high pitched keening that vibrated the air around Yuuya's hand, the Esper steadily aiming at the target at the other end of the field, which was elevated to avoid any… collateral damage.

And with the sound of booming thunder, Yuuya let the bolt loose like he had against Viltra, the beam shooting forward and slamming the target, _vaporizing it_ as it passed through the center and expanded, Yuuya standing with a smirk on his face as the proctors jaw _dropped_ in shock, while up in the booth, the other three of the four Shirai Aces were stunned silent… which Ryotaro then broke.

"DID YUU JUST FIRE A THUNDER BEAM OF DEATH?!" Ryotaro yelped as he shot up, Mochida blinking.

"Other than the fact your naming sense is terrible… I think that's exactly what Yuu did…" Mochida mumbled in shock, and Makoto blinked, his face just as surprised.

"There's no _way_ that's the power of a Level 4… no way in frickin _hell_ can call it that anymore…"

As Makoto said that, a PA sounded, the person on the speaker clearing their throat like they were also getting over the shock.

" _Ability Level… Level 5…"_ The speaker was still so stunned that was all they could say, and Yuuya looked towards the proctor as he lowered his arm.

"He's right… that… that was enough to rate you as a Level 5 Bakura… con-congratulations… holy hell I need to report this…" The proctor walked off as he mumbled, and Yuuya chuckled, throwing up a fist.

"HELL YEAH! Ya' hear that guys?! Level 5! I am now officially Academy City's eighth Level 5 rated Esper! Yuuya Bakura, the Level 5 Resonator!" Yuuya put up two fingers in a victory sign, a triumphant smile on his face as his friends started yelling their heads off in the booth once they snapped out of their shock, Yuuya then swiping his thumb across his nose. "Hehehehe! And that's how our wild life in Academy City rolls!"

 **A/N**

 **Took me ages to get back to this, but I am satisfied with how this arc closed. Now… for some fun that delves deeper into Yuuya's character and past. Kehehehehe.**

 _ **Next chapter preview:**_

 _?: Hi there, I'm Yuriko Bakura, nice to meet you!_

 _Yuuya: You're saying I have a little sister I never knew about…_

 _Makoto: Yuuya is a Child Error guys… Academy City is one of the only homes he's known as far as I can guess…_


	8. Chapter 8

A Certain Scientific Resonator

 **Chapter 8: Sister**

 _ **Unknown Lab/Academy City**_

"SIR! The report just came in! One of the Gemstones just leveled up!"

A scientist crashed through the door of a meeting room filled with more lab coated researchers, the head one humming.

"What? Which Gemstone?! And what Level?!" The head researcher asked, shooting up.

"Yuuya Bakura, aka Resonator, a Child Error who, as far as records show, has lived in Academy City his entire life, and the second Gemstone the Child Error home he was from recorded, along with Lightray. As of 1500 hours three days ago, designation Resonator achieved Level 5 in power rating." The scientist who'd busted in relayed, and all the researchers around the table were muttering in contemplation.

"Was this information sent to the Windowless Building first?" The head one asked.

"Of course sir. I was ordered to hand it to you just today sir. And… look at this footage recorded before the test, on the night we got those strange readings in the construction area."

The messenger handed over a flash drive, the lead researching plugging it in, a holo-screen appearing and showing a video feed… of Yuuya's fight with Viltra, and the researchers paused it after Yuuya displayed his newly developed move.

"What is _that?!_ Did the subject… _combine_ EM Wave types?!"

"Impossible… even for an ESPer…"

"Well the subject _is_ a Gemstone… it's extremely difficult to grasp the true nature of a power such as that to start with…"

"Yes but _merging_ electromagnetic waves together and then _releasing them_ into an attack this destructive?! This is unheard of! Not even Accelerator has managed something like this, even with his control over Vectors!"

"Even more, he can control the intensity… the readings from the test and the "accident" on that night don't match."

"Increase observations on Resonator… we need to watch his growth with scrutiny…"

 _ **Elsewhere**_

Yuuya sneezed at complete random as he wandered the streets again, sniffing a bit as he rubbed his nose.

"Ugh, who the hell is talking about me now?"

Yuuya rubbed his nose, adjusting his headphones to a more comfortable sitting spot on his head, though the peaceful evening walk started to go sour when he heard a familiar voice…

"RESONATORRRR!"

Yuuya chuckled and shot back with a burst, Mikoto crashing down where he was before, and Yuuya chuckled as the short haired girl turned around, electricity crackling around her arms.

"Well isn't _that_ one way to say "Hey, congrats on making it to Level 5 finally!"… really Railgun?" Yuuya chuckled, and Mikoto scoffed.

"Oh don't act so surprised. We made a promise when we were kids remember? Once we both hit level 5, we'd duke it out and see who's stronger than the other! You don't have any reason to be holding back, and I've been waiting for this rematch for a few years now." Mikoto stated, and Yuuya sighed, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Right, I remember that… but, can we _not_ fight in the middle of a crowd?" Yuuya pointed out the now staring and murmuring crowd, Mikoto looking around and then coughing into a hand.

"Right. That would be… kind of bad if we fought here…" Mikoto murmured.

"You think? Hagh… follow me, I have a good idea of where we can duke it out."

 _ **Empty Lot**_

"An empty lot?"

Mikoto looked around the empty space Yuuya had led her to, the same large, empty space near the highway that was Yuuya's normal practice space.

"Yeup. This is where I've been coming to practice ever since I found it… well, more like stumbled on it. Still, it's open, it's well away from things, and in a relatively quiet area that not a lot of people bother with anymore. That old factory is also really good for practice certain moves when I need a buffer." Yuuya stated, setting his back down and rolling up his blazer's sleeves, also lowering his headphones to his neck.

"Well, seems like as good a place as any to practice what with your skill set." Mikoto hummed, and Yuuya nodded as he turned up the volume on his headphones for a source of immediate sound, "So, let's not beat around the bush, times wasting!"

Yuuya chuckled and shot out of the way as Mikoto fired an electric blast at him, skidding to a stop before snapping his fingers, Mikoto avoiding the amplified blast, Yuuya chuckling, stamping his foot and kicking up dust with a quick burst, though Mikoto blasted it away with a quick burst, but Yuuya was nowhere to be seen.

"What the… man, he's way too fast…" Mikoto looked around, and when she looked up after picking up on music again, she shot back when Yuuya crashed down, electricity crackling around one hand and fire at the other. "Heh, using electricity won't be very effective against me y'know? And even if you can control it, I remember well enough you can still be hit by it!"

Yuuya simply smirked as he started using his forearms to deflect Mikoto's blows as she punched and kicked at him, and he crossed his arms when she kicked him away, only to start kicking up dust herself.

"Oh I know where this is going…" Yuuya murmured, and from the dust particles in the ground, Mikoto formed a black colored sword from the electrified black dust, the air vibrating around the impromptu weapon, and Yuuya let out a hiss, "Forgot you could do that."

"Well it's just simple magnetism after all… pretty sure you'll pick up on it if it stays around long enough!" Mikoto charged forward, and Yuuya used his own electrical flow as a shield from the blow, striking back with the fire in his hand, though it was simply avoided, Yuuya dodging the vibrating blade as Mikoto slashed at him, and with a well-timed strike, Yuuya used a reversed electrical current to disperse the blade.

"Well, that worked better than I thought it would." Yuuya shook his hand as Mikoto smirked at how he countered the attack.

"Hehehe, that was nice. You've definitely improved over the last time we fought! Cause I definitely remember that I kicked your ass!" Mikoto attacked again, Yuuya countering the blows, both smirking as they exchanged blows and attacks.

"Well last time we sparred I was only Level 3, and I've come a long way since then… so no way am I slowing down now!" Yuuya chuckled, both colliding fists and then stepping back, and as the two started readying another move…

"Okay well as much as I _love_ watching a lovers spat… could you two stop?"

Yuuya and Mikoto stopped charging their moves, turning to see Makoto jumping down to the lot, his hands in his pockets as he approached the two level five ESPers.

"Makoto?" Yuuya hummed.

"W-we weren't having a lovers spat! It was sparring, that it's!" Mikoto shouted, and Makoto rolled his eyes.

"I know that Railgun, geez… actually, I'm here on business… it's about Yuuya. We need to go back to the Judgement branch… there's someone there who wants to meet you." Makoto stated, and Yuuya hummed.

"Hagh, what did I do now?" Yuuya sighed, and Makoto shook his head.

"This isn't because you're in trouble… this has to do with… someone related to you." Makoto stated, Yuuya blinking, and Mikoto's eyes widened as well.

"Someone related to Re… Yuuya? What are you talking about?" Mikoto asked.

"Exactly as I said Railgun… Yuuya, one of your family members is at our Judgement branch… and they want to meet you." Makoto stated, Yuuya's eyes widened, something akin to shock on his face…

 _ **Judgement Branch 177**_

Yuuya had been stoic the entire trip to the branch, a melancholic look on his face as he followed Makoto and Mikoto, the latter taking note of the odd amount of stoicism from the androgynous young man.

"Hey, Romanov, why's Yuuya being so quiet?" Mikoto asked.

"Heh, didn't peg you for the concerned type." Makoto mused.

"Shut it. I'm one of his closests friends, I can be worried about him too y'know?" Mikoto stated, and Makoto sighed.

"You'll see in just a second. Right in here Yuuya." Makoto stopped at a door, Yuuya nodding as it was opened, and sitting in the room, obviously waiting, was someone that made Yuuya's expression darken with shock.

It was a young girl who looked like she was at least Mikoto's age, wearing a middle school uniform that was far different than any in Academy City, the girl bearing an uncanny resemblance to Yuuya, with dark black hair that fell down her back and almost like a feminine version of Yuuya's messy hairstyle, and she had the same vibrant gold eyes he did.

"Whoa…" Mikoto murmured, Makoto nodding, and the girl turned to face them, her expression changing to excited surprise as she saw Yuuya.

"Ah! You must be Yuuya! Sorry for the sudden event, but, well, this was the place I was directed to when I asked about you." The girl stood up and bowed her head, and Yuuya merely blinked, pulling his headphones down.

"Who the hell are you?" Yuuya murmured, his tone cold.

"Oh my, your voice sounds rather nice…" The girl hummed, then clearing her throat, "I'm Yuriko Bakura, nice to meet you! And, I'm your younger sister."

Yuuya gritted his teeth and let out a growl, like something in him had just been pressed… something that he didn't _want_ to be pressed.

"Let's leave the siblings alone for now…" Makoto shut the door, leaving the two golden eyed teens alone, and Yuuya sat down opposite Yuriko who sat back down, Yuuya's expression cold.

"So, why are you here in Academy City?" Yuuya go straight to the point, and Yuriko put her hands on her lap.

"Well, just recently, I found out I have ESPer abilities, or, at least a good potential to be an ESPer, so, mom and dad decided I should transfer to school here. I'm a second year in middle school, and I'm looking around, though I have the marks to make it into Tokiwadai…" Yuriko explained, and Yuuya sighed.

" _You're saying I have a little sister I never knew about… and then, once_ they _find out their she has ESPer abilities and they ship her off here eh? Better than just leaving her to fend for herself like they did for me… but what the hell where they thinking?"_ Yuuya thought, a bitter, quiet scoff passing through his lips.

"Oh, mom and dad told me a lot about you. They said you're a _really_ great ESPer, and are top of your class! In a city like this, that's gotta be really cool! But, when I was thinking about you in my mental image, I admittedly though you would look different… there's no pictures of you at home, so I had no idea what you looked like… I thought you'd look like dad, but wow, you look like mom!" Yuriko continued, and Yuuya felt a mental twinge.

"Oh? What kind of things did they say eh?" Yuuya hummed, his tone obviously bitter, but the naïve girl didn't register the resentment leaking from Yuuya's mouth.

"Hmm, well, they only got to hear some stuff from news or reports… but, they said that what they do know is…" Yuriko started, but Yuuya shot a cold glare.

"Yeah well whatever they said is a sack of bullshit lies… those two don't know anything about me… even if the city tells them anything, they don't know me… tch, first they abandon me here and then try to make up for it by making it seem like they actually fucking _care?_ That's rich…" Yuuya scoffed and stood up, leaving with that, Yuriko blinking in surprise, and Makoto entered giving a sigh while Mikoto ran after Yuuya.

"Sorry about this Ms. Yuriko… Yuuya… doesn't like your parents all that much…" Makoto sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"He seemed to angry… why? Mom and dad said that they just couldn't talk to him, but they always said such nice things…" Yuriko murmured.

"I don't have the right to tell you about Yuuya's past… well, more like I _can't._ I don't know enough, and I've known the guy since middle school… if you want to find out about your brother's past and the reason he's being such a bitter asshole right now… well, ask his two childhood friends." Makoto stated, folding his arms.

"His childhood friends…" Yuriko murmured, Makoto nodding.

"Mikoto Misaka and Suisho Seiten… no doubt you'll meet them if you're in Tokiwadai, or aiming too… and, a note for you. "Makoto held up a finger, "Yuuya is what we call a Child Error… Academy City is the only home he knows… I get your parents may have wound up regretting the action they took, but understand this, at least, cause I'm gonna be blunt, I have to be, for Yuuya's sake…"

"Okay… if it'll help me understand my brother, than okay! Mom and dad really do regret not always being able to see him… if I can figure out how to make him understand that…" Yuriko murmured, and Makoto chuckled.

"Well, you seem like the determined type… all right then, I'll tell you straight up…" Makoto stepped forward, an intense gaze on him, "Your mom and dad, from my guess, left Yuuya here, in this city… abandoned him to fend for himself as a Child Error… all because of his inborn ability as an ESPer… your brother is a special case for an ESPer, born with his powers… and apparently, I guess your mom and dad couldn't handle that."

Yuriko looked shocked at Makoto's words, and the boy sighed as the girl looked to be in disbelief.

"No way… mom and dad wouldn't do that! They're kind people! Why would they abandon their own son, all because he was born with his powers?!" Yuriko snapped, and Makoto folded his arms.

"That's what I'd like to know. But, you won't get anything out of Yuuya, whatever's going on in his head, it's not pleasant… ask those two I mentioned, you'll figure out who they are pretty quick… they're rather famous around the town." Makoto stated, "But… help him… please… Yuuya's a good friend, and I think having some real family around will do him some good. I promise, he's a nice guy… just not in a good mood."

"He didn't seem that bad… I could tell… he's not a bad person… just mixed up inside… but, I've got to figure this out! I'm sure mom and dad had a good reason for taking him here, and I'll figure it out, whatever it takes!"

Makoto chuckled as the younr girl switched to immediate determination.

" _Lucky you Yuuya… maybe this girl can pull you out of your slump… someone who comes from the other side of your life."_ Makoto though, nodding to the idea, _"Good luck."_

 **A/N**

 **Well it's been a while since I worked on this… oh how I love sudden bursts of inspiration.**


End file.
